Taxes and tax cuts
OTTAWA—The federal government's planned corporate tax cuts will only exacerbate the existing inequalities in Canada's economy—both between regions and across industries, says a study released today by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA).
OTTAWA—Canada should raise federal personal income tax rates on the rich to close the growing income gap and to bring them more in line with those in the U.S., says a study released today by the Alternative Federal Budget project of the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives.
The study, by economist Andrew Jackson, points out that Canada's top federal tax rate is considerably lower than the U.S.: The top U.S. tax rate is 35% on incomes over $326,000 and 33% on incomes over $150,000; Canada's top federal income tax rate is 29% on incomes of over $116,000.
Earlier this year, Warren Buffett, one of the richest people on the planet, remarked that his secretary, who makes a lot less money than her boss, actually pays a higher rate of tax. Buffett went so far as to call on the US Congress to stop giving major tax breaks to rich people like him.
It would be easy to dismiss this as just another example of the follies of the Bush administration. But a closer look at tax rates in Canada reveals a strikingly similar story.
TORONTO – More than a decade’s worth of tax cuts have disproportionately lined the pockets of Canada’s most affluent families, says a new tax study by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA).
The study finds the top 1 percent of families in 2005 paid a lower total tax rate than the bottom 10 percent of families.
“Canada’s tax system now fails a basic test of fairness,” says Marc Lee, senior economist with the CCPA’s B.C. office and author of the study. “Tax cuts have contributed to a slow and steady shift to a less progressive tax system in Canada.”
I am trying to imagine the conversation I may one day have with my grandchildren about how my generation squandered $60 billion in tax cuts within the space of a single federal budget without investing a cent of it in something that will last for future generations.
We are living in very surreal times in Canada.
We have a minority federal government that has once again ‘stumbled’ upon a ‘surprise’ budget surplus of hallucinogenic proportions -- $13.8 billion, with projections of billions more to come – but we have a finance minister who is hellbent on frittering it away.
These are pretty exciting times for Canada’s oil patch.
Crude oil prices are at record highs, and showing no signs of declining. Most of its current production is either conventional or from the oil sands, both at historic costs that are far below current price levels. The oil industry’s success in limiting Canada’s refining capacity has paid off massively, quietly generating superprofits in the refining and distribution end of the business.