I’ll be with Ian Jessop on CFAX 1070 today, discussing natural resource revenues accruing to the British Columbia government. In the last seven years, provincial revenues from ferry fares and medical services premiums increased almost 40% but natural gas royalties declined by 91%. Actually, that doesn’t tell the whole story
Continue readingTag: taxation
Northern Insight: Of business, by business, for business
British Columbia’s revenue from natural resources totalled $4 billion in fiscal year 2001. The Bank of Canada inflation calculator shows the equivalent in current dollars is $5 billion. Natural resource revenue received by the province in fiscal 2013 was $2.5 billion, half the value, in constant dollars, returned to the
Continue readingNorthern Insight: "Revenue neutral" carbon taxes – hollow claim
In its June budget update, the BC Government said, “When the carbon tax was introduced, one of the key principles was that the tax would be revenue neutral – that all carbon tax revenue would be returned to individuals and businesses through reductions in other taxes and not used to
Continue readingNorthern Insight: They assume we’re feckless idiots and they might be right.
Before the May 2013 election, BC Liberals promised the entire provincial debt, budgeted this year at $62.5 billion, could be eliminated within 15 years with government proceeds of natural gas production. In fact, the time frame is likely a bit longer. Actually, more than 500 times longer. The most recent
Continue readingNorthern Insight: That was then; this is now
Much of my youth was spent in the coastal mill town of Powell River. Paying excellent wages, the pulp, paper and lumber company directly employed almost 2,500 workers. It hired the town’s young people and provided trades training through apprenticeships and skill development programs. Managers and supervisors were promoted from
Continue readingcalgaryliberal.com: University of Calgary Liberals mentioned in Wikileaks
Turns out the Young Liberals at the University of Calgary is seen as an organization of real influence by the US State Department. Below is a quote from Wikileaks that talks about how the UofC Liberals were able to influence the policy of the party and shake up a whole
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: Why Is Tom Mulcair Opposed to Tax Increases?
A recent online article suggests that Federal NDP Leader Thomas Mulcair is opposed to increasing federal tax rates. I find this quite surprising. According to the August 8 article: Mulcair seemed surprised when he was asked if taxes would go up under an NDP government. “You’re the first person who’s
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: Funding Cuts to Alberta’s PSE Sector: There Are Alternatives
It has recently been reported that the University of Alberta wants to “reopen two-year collective agreements” with faculty and staff “to help the university balance its budget…” This appears to be in direct response to Alberta’s provincial government announcing in its March budget that there would be a “7% cut
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: How Offshore Tax Havens Destroy Governments
Last fall, Greek magazine editor Kostas Vaxevanis published in his magazine Hot Doc a list of 2,000 wealthy Greeks who were hiding taxable savings in the Geneva branch of HSBC. The list had been furnished years earlier by the then French finance Minister Christine Lagarde to the Greek government, who did nothing
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: Are average Canadians paying too much in taxes?
On April 23, the Fraser Institute released the annual update of their misleading Consumer Tax Index report. The piece is meant to feed the anti-tax sentiment with numbers sprinkled liberally for their shock value instead of providing any meaningful analysis. Here are some of the main flaws with the report’s
Continue readingNorthern Insight: Tax issue the Harper Gov’t prefers not to address
Read Committee studying offshore tax evasion will not question revenue minister at The Globe and Mail. This story comes from the USA but Canadian companies employ similar schemes of tax avoidance. In fact, most of the companies listed here have large Canadian operations. One of the reasons that companies doing
Continue readingAlberta Diary: Minuscule Canadian Taxpayers Federation in running for ‘Turfy Award’
Former Canadian Taxpayers Federation Alberta Director Scott Hennig, now the group’s Communications VP, in a nice AstroTurf-coloured sweater at last weekend’s Ottawa conference of the Manning Centre for Undermining Democracy. Below: CTF President Troy Lanigan; CTF member … rrrrrrr … supporter, Riley Climenhaga; CTF Operations VP Shannon Morrison. When it
Continue readingThe Canadian Progressive: Canada Loses Billions in Revenue to Tax Havens
By Canadians for Tax Fairness | Feb. 18, 2013: The growing use of tax havens is costing Canadians an estimated $7.8 billion annually, the executive director of Canadians for Tax Fairness has told a Parliamentary committee studying the issue. “Tax haven use is at an all-time high in Canada,” C4TF’s Dennis
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 readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: Tax and the Top 1%
Further to Toby’s comments, Miles Corak has posted an excellent commentary on the new numbers on high incomes, together with a spread sheet showing average effective tax rates by income group from the 1980s. The big story is that the average effective tax rate for the very affluent has been
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: Canada’s bloated 1 per cent
Statistics Canada’s release on the escalating incomes of the top 1 per cent gained a lot of media coverage — and also provoked some very defensive reactions by major organs of the Canadian media. This included an almost rabid column by Financial Post editor Terence Corcoran accusing Statistics Canada of engaging
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: GHG Cap & Trade
This is a guest blog post written by Whitehorse-based economist, Luigi Zanasi. Please feel free to comment. Also, please note that this was written before Marc’s blog post of Jan. 14 re: BC’s carbon tax. – Towards a fair cap & trade system for GHG emissions In the last two
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: What’s next for BC’s carbon tax?
An oped of mine was published by the Vancouver Sun today: What’s next for BC’s carbon tax? Marc Lee Climate change forced its way onto the political agenda in 2012, as Hurricane Sandy ripped through the northeast United Stages just days before the election. And while action remains frustratingly slow,
Continue readingNorthern Insight: "Improved" PST will look much like HST
With less than 20 weeks before the BC election, our Liberal government continues spending tax dollars to promote themselves. It’s not the first time they aimed to influence the vote with government-paid advertising. This is from an opposition press release after the 2005 vote: “Following revelations that the Campbell government
Continue readingNorthern Insight: BC Liberals’ startling success
Many commentators claim BC Liberals are incompetent and ineffective. While true in ministries such as Justice and Children and Family Development, Liberals have been successful in the centerpiece of their strategic plan. Startlingly successful. In 2001, Gordon Campbell’s platform document promised a “business environment that is second to none” and
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