Frances Bula offers up what should be a good-news story about a volunteer effort to track down tax rebates for homeless people: Ms. Lissimore did 300 tax returns last year and expects to do about the same or more this year. Most of those returns do little more than ensure
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Accidental Deliberations: Parliament in Review: November 15, 2011
Much of Tuesday, November 15 was spent discussing C-13, the Cons’ budget implementation bill. And with a giant and scattered omnibus bill came a Commons debate to match. The Big Issue The main topic of debate on the Cons’ budget was once again their series of tax credits, with the
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Thursday Morning Links
This and that for your Thursday reading. – Frances Russell criticizes the Cons’ latest attempts to stifle parliamentary accountability. And the Citizen can only scoff at Tony Clement’s claim to be an advocate for open government: What matters is whether government makes information available. The statistics from access-to-information requests suggest
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Monday Morning Links
Assorted content to start your week. – Dr. Dawg asks some rather important questions about whether we think our current checks and balances are enough to rein in the Harper Cons: The lesson of the first story is, for me, how quickly the “normal” can be disrupted, our country taking
Continue readingAmericans OK with taxes but not with the system
I admit to some surprise. Listening to the Republican contenders for the presidential nomination, you might think Americans wanted nothing more than to pay less taxes. In fact, according to a recent Pew Research Centre survey, most Americans (52 per cent) believe they pay about the right amount of tax.
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Monday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material for your Boxing Day reading – with plenty of interesting news below the headlines. – Naturally the Globe and Mail’s headline focuses on a modest dip (to a 14-point lead) in Quebec rather than the NDP’s strong national performance. But the more noteworthy development in the latest Nanos
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Friday Afternoon Links
Assorted content to end your week. – If there’s a more accurate description of the Cons’ entire political strategy than “taking advantage of the prejudice that’s already there”, I haven’t heard it yet. And Chris Lawson is rightly frustrated that Canadian politics are being dominated by such cynical and destructive
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Thursday Afternoon Links
This and that for your Thursday reading. – Alice offers her own take on Ian Capstick’s leadership musings by questioning why a current candidate would see more prospect of influencing the race by dropping out now rather than staying in the field: * It is worthwhile being able to win
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: On clear symbols
I’ve theorized before that one of the most important tests as to how Canadians view their country over the next few years figures to involve public perceptions of Tim Hortons and other brands which have managed to tap into anti-elitist sentiment for the benefit of their own developing upper class.
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: On selective concerns
The past decade-plus in Canadian politics has seen a non-stop series of changes to tax rates and structures – with a particular focus on handing yet more money to those who already have the most. And I’ll challenge readers to find a single commentator suggesting that we hold off on
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Sunday Morning Links
Assorted content to end your weekend. – Bruce Anderson worries that the Cons might think they face no restriction on their ability to get away with dirty tricks. But Noah Richler suggests that the best way to fight back against the Cons’ disdain for democratic debate is to treat them
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Room for progressivity
Yes, I know some commentators are treating the latest from Kevin Milligan et al. as somehow proving a point that raising high-income tax levels won’t accomplish anything. But I’d think one has to strain rather hard to draw such an interpretation from a column that includes the following: What might
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Tuesday Morning Links
This and that for your Tuesday reading. – Stephen Maher points out the type of government that we’ve come to count on under the ultra-controlling Harper political model: This presidentialization of the Canadian system is worrying, not because of some fetishistic attachment to the trappings of Parliament, but because it
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Monday Evening Links
Assorted content to end your day. – Toby Sanger posts about the OECD’s findings on inequality in Canada, with this particularly jumping out as to how much less progressive our tax system is now than it was two decades ago: Taxes and benefits play a smaller role in reducing inequality
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Monday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material to start your week. – Murray Dobbin comments on how the NDP can turn economic issues from a perceived weakness to one of the party’s core strengths over the next election cycle: There is a long way to go for the NDP to establish itself as a serious
Continue readingThe Happy Wanderer: Democrats are Dreaming
In a somewhat strange turn of events it seems the Democrats who contiguous talk themselves as being the party that will save Social Security is now the party that quite frankly is giving it lip service. The Payroll tax (the tax that generates a lot of income for Social Security) is at
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Leadership 2012 – Policy Roundup
As the NDP’s leadership race moves into the limelight, the candidates are starting to unveil some of their policy priorities. As I’ve mentioned it’s an open question as to how much members will want to change from a set of ideas that’s worked rather well for a few election cycles
Continue readingImpolitical: Alberta Tories talk taxes
Very interesting debate going on in Alberta: “Alta. Tories defend talk about provincial sales tax.” The Alberta PCs are finding themselves in a budget bind, with dwindling revenues from energy sources and are looking for new ones. Yes, they are looking at increasing revenues. It sounds as if they are
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Parliament In Review: October 28, 2011
Friday, October 28 saw another day largely dedicated to debate on the gun registry, with plenty more key points by the opposition met with the Cons’ usual wall of refusal to consider anything other than total annihilation. The Big IssueThe line of the day goes to Rosane Dore Lefebvre, questioning
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Saturday Morning Links
Assorted content for your weekend reading. – Stephanie Larocque highlights the Cons’ gall in hanging onto federal reimbursements from their own ad scam even after having admitted their guilt: You don’t have to prove guilt when the charged plead guilty. And that is exactly what happened last week when the
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