As nations reset their economies following the Covid crisis, one focus is on reducing the inequality that has become an increasing threat to political stability. An obvious instrument to achieving this is higher taxes on the rich. However, conservative economists say we must keep taxes on high income earners relatively
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Scripturient: Council Votes to Waste More Tax Dollars on Personal Vendetta
Just when you thought our council could not get any more petty or puerile, they lower the bar again. Last night, in a 7-2 vote, our punishment-obsessed council voted to spend yet more of your tax dollars on the Saunderson Vindictive Judicial Inquiry (aka the SVJI). Yes, that’s right: they
Continue readingViews from the Beltline: You owe us an explanation, Mr. O’Toole
In a recent letter to the prime minister (which he gratuitously tweeted to the general public), Conservative leader Erin O’Toole had this to say about the proposed global tax agreement: The Deputy Prime Minister has indicated that during the G7 finance Minister’s meeting, she may agree to a new global
Continue readingViews from the Beltline: Leashing the corporations with the Biden tax
There was a period following WWII when we approached utopia. Well, OK, maybe that’s overstating it, but we had created probably the finest society, in terms of the economic welfare of ordinary people, that humanity has ever managed. We had for some time enjoyed the benefits of capitalism but in
Continue readingScripturient: Saunderson’s Job-Killing ICBL Continued
James Madison, one of the US’s Founding Fathers said that a government “…without popular information, or the means of acquiring it, is but a prologue to a tragedy or a farce, or perhaps both.” Sure reads like someone describing our own council and their refusal to listen to the public
Continue readingViews from the Beltline: Biden admin getting it right on taxes
For some time, corporations have had things their way. With globalization, which was largely designed by and for them, they were able to slip the leashes that nation states had imposed on them and move wherever labour was cheapest and taxes lowest. And, in effect, blackmail governments for favours. Now
Continue readingScripturient: Council Just Waves Its Hands
Council waving its hands. Making ineffective flapping gestures. It sounds like it should be some sort of metaphorical phrase. Something from the Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra episode of Star Trek. But hand-waving is actually a metaphorical term that means failure to deliver the goods. And also trying to deflect
Continue readingViews from the Beltline: We are all in this together … including the billionaires
We are all in this together. An expression we hear a a lot these days. And rightly so, as we depend on government to relieve the millions of people and businesses affected by global economic disruption and provide us with the security of vaccination. Perhaps it’s important to endure a
Continue readingScripturient: Floccinaucinihilipilification in Collingwood
Floccinaucinihilipilification*, the longest non-technical word in the English language, is when you consider something to be unimportant, worthless, useless, or generally valueless. Basically, it means it’s rubbish. As Robert Heinlein wrote in a 1951 scifi novel: Digby was a floccinaucinihilipilificator at heart—which is an eight-dollar word meaning a joker who
Continue readingViews from the Beltline: Alberta business proposes more taxes
We don’t generally think of proposals for more taxes coming from the business community but that’s exactly what happened in Alberta this week. The Business Council of Alberta has issued a report, Towards a Fiscally Sustainable Alberta, saying that the province not only needs a harmonized sales tax but it
Continue readingScripturient: The $100 Million Mayor?
In a story on CollingwoodToday, our mayor, Brian Saunderson, shrugs off the costs of his Vindictive Judicial Inquiry (the SVJI) as being but a drop in the bucket for the town’s annual budget: He noted the town’s annual budget is nearly $100 million, and the inquiry costs amount to less
Continue readingScripturient: My Report About the Report About the Report
As I predicted (correctly) late last year, Collingwood Council was given a dumbed-down, $700,000-as-important-as-clean-drinking-water-report-about-the-judicial-inquiry-report. More than 900 pages of the original report reduced to a mere 15 to report on the report. And as I also predicted, it would include pie charts. You can read it here: “STAFF REPORT #CAO2021-02
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Sunday Morning Links
This and that for your Sunday reading. – Nicole Mortillaro notes that the reduction in pollution due to COVID-19-related shutdowns isn’t keeping 2020 from being either the hottest or second-hottest year on record. Nina Chestney reports on new research showing that our current fossil fuel economy is utterly incompatible with
Continue readingA Platform for Tax Fairness
“Taxes are the price we pay for a civilized society.” This quote by Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. is the motto of Canadians for Tax Fairness, an organization that “advocates for fair and progressive tax policies aimed at building a strong and sustainable economy, reducing inequalities and funding quality public services.”
Continue readingScripturient: The towering heights of the SVJI
Four hundred and twenty seven thousand, two hundred and sixty five. That’s how many documents have been submitted to the Saunderson Vindictive Judicial Inquiry (SVJI) to date, according to a story in Collingwood Today.* There is no indication if more are expected after that, but it wasn’t ruled out, either.
Continue readingScripturient: Small town rules
In their book, Small Town Rules (Pearson Education Inc., USA, 2012), authors Barry Moltz and Becky McCray explain seven rules for businesses that use the model of a small town to offer advice on growing and maintaining a business n the “connected economy.” And while most of their rules are
Continue readingScripturient: Ten points on affordable housing
I was invited, along with the other candidates for this municipal election, to address residents at Rupert’s Landing this week. Each candidate was provided a list of ten questions and given three minutes to respond to one of them. I will comment on the other nine in a future post,
Continue readingScripturient: My answers to residents: 5
This is a somewhat edited response to a resident who asked about a splash pad. The resident also commented that, “As nice as Collingwood is, we feel that this town is falling behind the times compared to other towns close by and the advancements they have achieved.” Here’s in part
Continue readingScripturient: My answers to SOS
The following questions were sent to all candidates by the local citizen’s group, Save Our Shoreline (SOS). These are my answers, below. I have formatted my response for better online reading. The questions are in italics. 1.) In order of priority how would you rank the top five (5) priorities
Continue readingScripturient: More costs pile onto the SVJI
It seems Saunderson’s Vindictive Judicial Inquiry (SVJI) is eating up taxpayer money rapidly, with a little help from other town departments. It was originally estimated to cost taxpayers between $2 and $6 million – and now it seems that could be much more thanks to this latest farcical chapter. Saunderson’s
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