The Repair Of Taxation

I`m glad someone else agrees with me that the rich and the corporations MUST be taxed more! This is how you pay for universal health care, quality education, and infrastructure. Oh, don`t worry, well to do`s. You`ll still be rich!

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Dave Ruston

Since Paul Martin\'s disastrous budget and slashing in 1995, I\'ve always held the view that tax cuts don\'t work.

Look at the countries that are above us on the U.N. scale, they have higher taxes and lower poverty rates.

When Mike Harris first came to office in Ontario, I thought he had one good idea, and that was to control the outlandish spending and empire-building of the school boards, who were allowed to set their own tax rates, and kick the property taxes out of sight.

The Director of Education at the Toronto District School Board has a salary of more than $250,000 a year. Get real !!

What was once called the Victoria County District School board, over a certain period of time, had an increase in students of 11%.

In the same time period, they had an increase of 120% in administration.

That was a problem.

I never did agree with the tax cuts that Mike Harris and company kept throwing at the corporations.

Look where we are now, a $5.6 billion deficit.

Great !!

Now what ? MgGuinty isn\'t looking good right now, he didn\'t do all his homework before he made all those pre-election promises.




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"Arrogance in Politics is unacceptable"
Jim Callaghan
Minden, Ontario
705-286-1860
www.misterc.ca

Canada\'s combined provincial and federal corporate taxes are 36%, versus 39% in the States. States like New York State have higher municipal proerty taxes than Ontario. Given the old adage that \"Canada has higher taxes,\" it just shows that our corporations are getting away with murder, as theyare taxed at a higher rate than regressive, American rates.

I meant \"Lower\" above. The Canadian corporations pay a lower combined rate than the regressive, American corporate tax-rate. Lower! sorry.

Some billion dollar corporations in Canada pay ZERO tax! Not to mention, we now have automobile companies like the big 3 or Nissan saying that they expect government subsidies if they`re going to build a new plant in Canada, or even keep an existing plant in Canada! And the request for subsidies are as high as 200 million dollars! Even the CAW is asking the feds to cough up such subsidies. I think that unions should be publicly pressuring the corporations- not government. Especially when cuts have been made to health care and education! But the CAW ( I know from experience) now only cares about auto workers because that`s where the big union dues money is. The smaller plants are just spare change to them and are largely ignored! How is it that most other factories and workplaces are taking wage cuts and concessions but the auto workers STILL get great contracts? I`m disenchanted with Buzz Hargrove. We could use Bob White again! He not only fought for small shops, but he was very vocal about CANADIAN SOVEREIGNTY as well!

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Dave Ruston

There are a lot of unskilled workers at the car plants, but they make some $35 an hour, including benefits, precisely because of the unions.

I have 2 sons that work at GM in Oshawa, and they both work overtime and Saturdays, which brings in more than $100,000 a year.

Not bad for taking 35 seconds to install a seat, or a handful of nuts and bolts.

I\'d take that job anyday. Boring, but pays well.

As for the smaller unionized shops, they sure don\'t make that kind of money unless they are considered skilled labour.

One more thing:

a few years ago, GM threatened to pull out of Canada if we changed the rules regarding Unemployment Insurance, as it was called then.

The system is backwards: if I lose my job and have to collect EI, (if I even qualify), or even if I work seasonal, meaning there is very little work in the off-season, I have to be productively looking for a job.

Not so with the autoworkers. When they get laid off, they get EI AND the automakers TOP UP their income to 90% of their real wage.

Talk about putting the cart before the horse. One rule for us, and another rule for everyone else.

You can probably tell I\'m not a huge fan of unions, they have pushed wages too far ahead of productivity. However, they do have a place in our society, and they will continue to do so.

There are many forces out there to reduce their power, though.

Virgin Airlines wants to set up base in the US, and they base their competiviness on the fact that they are not unionized, and pay lower wages.

My question is: are they properly trained at those lower prices ??

Does that really give you a sense of security while flying at 30,000 ft ??



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"Arrogance in Politics is unacceptable"
Jim Callaghan
Minden, Ontario
705-286-1860
www.misterc.ca