Can you identify a tax policy that is so ineffective, wasteful, inequitable, and cumbersome that political parties, think-tanks, and non-profit organizations across the political spectrum have spoken out against it?
This is a tax policy so universally maligned that opposition to it has brought the strangest of bedfellows to snuggle up and get cozy.
Let’s start with a list of the groups whose leaders or journals have decried the policy as an utter failure. Don’t peak yet… Can you guess the policy as you read the list?
Taxes and tax cuts
“Where’s the money coming from?”
That’s the question thrown at any individual or group seeking increased funding for Medicare, education, child care, or pensions; for more battered women’s shelters, more social housing; for a genuine effort to eliminate or at least reduce the rates of poverty and homelessness in Canada.
The presumption underlying this question is not only that the federal government really is strapped for cash, but also that the Canadian economy is failing to generate enough tax revenue to support an adequate social security system.
In recent months there have been demands from many quarters that the Manitoba government increase the provincial sales tax by one per cent and turn over the roughly $265 million in proceeds to local governments for infrastructure projects.
Une journée dans la vie nos impôts
A day in the life of your taxes
According to CBC news, 45% of Canadians wait until the last week before the deadline to file their tax returns. The mad pencil sharpening, digging through receipts and online filing is unlikely to generate a great deal of goodwill towards the tax collector. Perhaps this is why the Winnipeg Free Press chose April 30th to run two anti-tax View from the West Editorials from the Fraser Institute and Canadian Taxpayers Federation.
Hennessy's Index is a monthly listing of numbers, written by the CCPA's Trish Hennessy, about Canada and its place in the world. For other months, visit: http://policyalternatives.ca/index
Last week’s provincial budget falsely claims that the proverbial cupboard is bare and that nothing can be done to meet any of BC’s most pressing social, economic and environmental challenges.
(Halifax / Moncton) Les auteurs d'un nouveau rapport estiment que la province du Nouveau-Brunswick pourrait voir ses revenus annuels augmenter de plus 260 millions de dollars par année si seulement elle choisissait de faire des changements progressifs à son impôt sur le revenu.
Le Centre canadien de politiques alternatives de la Nouvelle-Écosse (CCPA-NS), un institut de recherche non partisan sans but lucratif, a publié un rapport mettant en cause la politique fiscale que le gouvernement du Nouveau-Brunswick a adoptée au cours des trois dernières années.