“We need the CCPA to remind us that our dreams of a decent, egalitarian society are reasonable — indeed that with a little work, they are practical. And I love that practicality, that protection of the dream of the possible.”
— Naomi Klein
Issue(s): Inequality and poverty, Taxes and tax cuts
October 5, 2009
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123 KB PDF | 3 pages
123 KB PDF | 3 pages
About this Publication
Imagine a low-income family working hard day after day to make ends meet. Both the parents in the family have full-time, full-year jobs, although they are the low-wage jobs that are all too common in Canada.
Both parents get raises that boost their gross family earnings by $6,370 a year. And the final result of their efforts to succeed? A loss of $213 in disposable income.
This perversion of public policy is sometimes known as “stacking.” Increases in wages are eroded or erased by a combination of increases in taxes and other payroll deductions, along with reductions in benefits from government programs that were set up mainly to help low-income people in the first place.