Going as far back as Justin Trudeau’s leadership election, he has consistently kept his major campaign planks close to the vest. Little tidbits, like the policy on marijuana, come out in carefully crafted morsels, but for the most part we are left guessing at what his first federal election campaign
Continue readingTag: TFSA
Progressive Proselytizing: Justin Trudeau’s tax plan is good policy and great politics
Going as far back as Justin Trudeau’s leadership election, he has consistently kept his major campaign planks close to the vest. Little tidbits, like the policy on marijuana, come out in carefully crafted morsels, but for the most part we are left gues…
Continue readingProgressive Proselytizing: Justin Trudeau’s tax plan is good policy and great politics
Going as far back as Justin Trudeau’s leadership election, he has consistently kept his major campaign planks close to the vest. Little tidbits, like the policy on marijuana, come out in carefully crafted morsels, but for the most part we are left guessing at what his first federal election campaign
Continue readingProgressive Proselytizing: Seniors are not a good reason for doubling TFSA limit
After years of being promised whenever the federal books got balanced, it looks like the next Harper budget is indeed going to double the contribution for Tax Free Savings Accounts. This policy has long been criticized – including by me – for being a policy that disproportionately provides advantages for
Continue readingProgressive Proselytizing: Seniors are not a good reason for doubling TFSA limit
After years of being promised whenever the federal books got balanced, it looks like the next Harper budget is indeed going to double the contribution for Tax Free Savings Accounts. This policy has long been criticized – including by me – for being a p…
Continue readingProgressive Proselytizing: Seniors are not a good reason for doubling TFSA limit
After years of being promised whenever the federal books got balanced, it looks like the next Harper budget is indeed going to double the contribution for Tax Free Savings Accounts. This policy has long been criticized – including by me – for being a policy that disproportionately provides advantages for
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: Doubling Contributions To The Tax Free Savings Account: Even Nastier Than Income Splitting
The Harper government gives five reasons why Canadians ought to be happy with its proposal to double the maximum contribution to the Tax-Free Savings Account. Examine each of its points more closely, however, and it’s clear that the TFSA carries far higher risks than rewards — for individual Canadians as
Continue readingProgressive Proselytizing: Income Splitting and Progressive Taxation
The motivation behind the idea of Income Splitting is quite reasonable. Namely, under the current scheme, two families with identical total income can be taxed at substantially different rates, depending on how that income is distributed between both parents. Given the fact that families do very often function as a
Continue readingProgressive Proselytizing: Income Splitting and Progressive Taxation
The motivation behind the idea of Income Splitting is quite reasonable. Namely, under the current scheme, two families with identical total income can be taxed at substantially different rates, depending on how that income is distributed between both parents. Given the fact that families do very often function as a
Continue readingProgressive Proselytizing: Income Splitting and Progressive Taxation
The motivation behind the idea of Income Splitting is quite reasonable. Namely, under the current scheme, two families with identical total income can be taxed at substantially different rates, depending on how that income is distributed between both p…
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: Flaherty’s Legacy: Ideological, reckless and just plain lucky
This piece was originally published at the Globe and Mail’s online Report on Business feature, EconomyLab. There are two reasons why it is difficult to comment on the legacy of a finance minister. 1) It is a tremendously challenging job, anywhere, any time. Stewarding one of the largest economies
Continue readingProgressive Proselytizing: Apparently I’m not the only one who doesn’t like the idea of $10,000 TFSAs…
…neither does the economist who came up with the idea of TFSAs. And for pretty much the same reasons I spelled out a few years ago when it was first floated. It is just way too regressive, significantly helping the richest Canadians (those who can afford to put $20,000 as a
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
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