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The Harper government's tough posture and weak rules on tax havens
Tuesday, April 9, 2013There is something almost quaint about the little ritual we go through every year at tax time.Ordinary citizens diligently spend hours calculating their income and deductions and...
View ArticleAre 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...
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The growing support for higher taxes
Monday, June 10, 2013Please support our coverage of democratic movements andĀ become a supporting member ofĀ rabble.ca.For years, most pundits have concluded that any politician proposing higher taxes...
View ArticleWhat's a point of corporate tax worth?
Tom Mulcair's recently reiterated unwillingness to raise personal tax rates puts the spotlight on corporate taxes. But how much revenue is at stake?Three and a half years ago, I posted a fiscal...
View ArticleCanada's (not so incredible) shrinking federal government
Buried in the federal government's recentĀ Update of Economic and Fiscal ProjectionsĀ are figures showing the Harper government is set to squeeze federal government's role to the smallest it has been in...
View ArticleClose tax loopholes to make taxes fairer and simpler
Close tax loopholes to make taxes fairer and simpler Our tax system is riddled with unfair and ineffective loopholes that cost federal and provincial governments a lot of money and disproportionately...
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No justice, no transit: A missed opportunity to debate taxes in Ontario's...
Friday, March 21, 2014Another golden moment is slipping away. I don't mean the Leafs (not only). I mean the Ontario election we might have had, the one about taxes, with a debate on what it means to be...
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Are CEOs panicking over a new style of tax rage brewing?
Thursday, April 10, 2014It's rare that members of Canada's financial elite are so clumsy in revealing that their cage has been rattled.Seemingly out of the blue this week, the head honchos of Canada's...
View ArticleOntario budget: Don't throw taxes under the bus
As Ontario inches toward a potential spring election showdown, Premier Kathleen Wynne is making clear that she wants public transit to become the ballot box question.That's heartening, because there is...
View ArticleGas taxes an opportunity for questions about Nova Scotia's tax system
Given last week's gas price gusher that propelled pump sticker shock beyond even the last record-breaking penny point set in 2012, it's little wonder Premier Stephen McNeil rushed for the cover of a...
View ArticleMunicipal budgets: You get what you pay for
Winnipeg's mayoral race is now officially underway. Any serious contenders are going to have to convince a very skeptical public that they can turn around what really has been a winter of discontent...
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Wynne victory exposes fallacy politicians can't win proposing tax hikes for...
Thursday, June 19, 2014Please help rabble.ca stop Harper's election fraud plan. Become a monthly supporter.Kathleen Wynne broke a number of taboos last week, proving it's possible to get elected...
View ArticleTaxes: A conversation whose time has come
It's official.AnĀ adult conversation about taxes is beginning to take shape.Way back in 2009, CCPA research associate Hugh Mackenzie published an editorial in the Toronto Star entitled "Can we have an...
View ArticleHow taxes have changed over the last half century
The Fraser Institute's annual Consumer Tax Index report generated some media buzz with its outlandish claims about just how much taxes have risen since 1961. Before you get worked up about this,...
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Memo to Nova Scotia's Tax and Regulatory Review: Raise taxes!
Monday, August 25, 2014Here's something else that would advance our cause in Nova Scotia if we could only talk about it without the pious platitudes: taxation.As it turns out the provincial government...
View ArticleYou say tomato, I say fish: or, why we we treat property taxes differently
Recently, the Canadian Federation of Independent Business received some media attention for their report on the relationship between residential and business property taxes in Ontario.While a step up...
View ArticleNova Scotia Tax Review: Eroding tax fairness
The Nova Scotia Tax Review released this week lacks an analysis of the impact its tax changes will have on Nova Scotians. Who would benefit? A simple distributional analysis of different income groups...
View ArticleTracking the distributional impacts of B.C.'s carbon tax
A colleague of mine pointed out a relatively new paper about the distributional impacts of B.C.'s carbon tax. In my work, we look at actual energy expenditures by different household groups, and...
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Accepting Nova Scotia's tax review is better than the alternative
Monday, December 1, 2014Another big report, another display of our witlessly shallow politics, which this time has outdone itself almost to the point of comedy in its haste to pour sulphur on the head...
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Canada's choice: Austerity or prosperity
Monday, January 12, 2015Imagine for a moment two societies living side by side. One has discovered and uses the wheel effectively -- a technology that makes life easier for workers and boosts the...
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