Reactions to this week’s federal budget have been all over the map. Is it too much, too little? Is this the shock the country needs or a missed opportunity to set a new course? As expected, a number of headlines are preoccupied with the numbers – spending, deficits, debt –
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The Disaffected Lib: America is Broken, Probably Beyond Repair
The sad fact that America’s Congress is “bought and paid for” is well known. America has long lost any notion of “government of the people, by the people, for the people.” It is instead government of the people by a few people acting for the benefit of a select, privileged
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: The "Bought and Paid For" Tax Reform Bill
The menacing face of Congressional corruption is being exposed in the Republican’s tax reform bill. They can’t hide it any longer. They’re bought and paid for, have been for some years, and now they have to do their patrons’ bidding. Even Senator Lindsey Graham admits the Republicans are at a
Continue readingMontreal Simon: The Paradise Papers and the Hypocrisy of the Cons
Oh no. What have we done to deserve this? Not another tax scandal, not more Pierre Poilievre. As you know when we last left the man they call Pee Wee or Dickhead, he was in a shrunken state, after his phony tax scandal went nowhere.But now he's back, and more annoying than
Continue readingMontreal Simon: Is the CRA Helping the Cons Smear the Liberals?
During the dark years of the Con regime, the Canada Revenue Agency was accused of acting as Stephen Harper's secret weapon.A weapon he used to harass and intimidate his enemies, from environmental groups to a group of birdwatchers who had dared criticize two of his ministers.The Cons needless to say did nothing
Continue readingMontreal Simon: The Cons and the Big Fake Tax Scandal
Michael de Adder is one of my favourite Canadian cartoonists, a guy I admire a lot even if I don't always agree with his political views.But sadly this cartoon is both disappointing and appalling.Not just because it demonizes an attempt to make taxation fairer in this country.But also because like
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Bill Morneau’s Tax Reforms
I have been following with interest the current discussion, sometimes waxing into hysteria, over Finance Minister Bill Morneau’s plan to close small-business loopholes that allow such ‘mom and pop’ operators as lawyers, doctors and dentists to evade paying their full share by “sprinkling income” to family members who do not
Continue readingAlex's Blog: The Year Taxes Made a Comeback
A slightly shorter version of this piece written with Jordan Himelfarb appeared here in The Toronto Star. It’s just possible that 2014 will be seen as the year that taxes made a comeback in Canada. Not so long ago Stéphane Dion tried to put a green “tax shift” on the
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: Fairness by design: a framework for tax reform in Canada
A new CCPA (National) report by Marc Lee and myself argues that Canada’s tax system needs a “fairness” overhaul and presents a framework for progressive tax reform. Those of you who have been following our tax work so far will find this study a great complement to the BC Tax
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Sensible Taxation
If we lived in Dr. Pangloss’s “best of all possible worlds,” I suspect that I would be a fairly conservative fellow. After all, in such a world those who worked hard would always get ahead; poverty, other than the self-induced kind, would be non-exis…
Continue readingOPSEU Diablogue: Unfair exemptions to employer health tax cost province $2.4 billion annually
Focused on austerity, the government appears to be ignoring tax policies that have the potential to bring in billions to the provincial treasury. The ruthless slashing of public sector funding – including the current freeze on base funding to Ontario’s … Continue reading →
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