Cut Income Taxes Now

Well I do agree we must approach income taxes differently. I do like the idea of the rich paying more. They`d still be rich, and they could still afford to live a life of luxury, while the extra taxes collected from them (and corporations) would go toward public health care, education, infrastructure, and many, many other areas that would only perpetuate more prosperity over the long run. If the lower middle class and the poor had more disposable income, they would certainly buy more goods.

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Dave Ruston

"Salaries between $30,000 and $100,000 pay the MOST income taxes in Canada.<br />
Those earning $200,000 or more pay less.Quick Tax Facts 2005"<br />
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What moron figured that out? The top 10% of income earners pay more than 50% of the gross tax in Canada. Additionally, high income earners pay more in straight dollars and pay more as a percentage of their income. This middle class bearing the brunt of the tax burden myth is garbage. <br />
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Direct from the link below:<br />
In 2002, families in the highest after-tax income quintile paid... over half (53%) of the aggregate amount of income tax paid by Canadian families. ... these high-income families had a smaller share of aggregate market income, 44%. <br />
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<a href="http://www.statcan.ca/english/freepub/75-203-XIE/0000275-203-XIE.pdf">http://www.statcan.ca/english/freepub/75-203-XIE/0000275-203-XIE.pdf</a><br />
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Those are actual facts cited. You might want to try doing the same before posting them.

The top 10% of income earners pay more than 50% of the gross tax in Canada.

Question: Is that a general rule or is just those in the top 10 who have a rare thing among the wealthy known as a code of ethics?

Obviously the skippers who pay no tax cannot be counted.

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"and the knowledge they fear is a weapon to be used against them"

"The Weapon" - Rush

These are also facts from the study:

"In 2002, families in the lowest income quintile received only 3.8% of aggregate market income, but their
share of total income was larger: 6.4%. Conversely, families in the highest income quintile received 44%
of aggregate market income but 41% of total income.
Before government transfers, those in the highest income quintile received, on average, $11.70 for
each $1 earned by those in the lowest quintile"



The highest income earners would pay more tax, OBVIOUSLY, because they earn almost half of all the income generated in Canada.

However, as the above indicates, Statistics Canada does NOT use Revenue Canada data, it uses it's own data. Meaning that it uses general, not real, tax rates.

For example, the richest canadians, according to statistics Canada, have over 40 billion dollars in investment funds 'hidden' in caribbean and other tax havens. So there is no way of knowing exactly how much wealthier canadians pay, although poorer canadians are pretty straight forward as they have no real investments.

However, clearly the biggest issue is not tax paid but income earned. If the highest income earners (and we don't know how many there are) possess forty percent of all the income generated in Canada, that's a pretty big mozza ball hanging out there.

Unfortunately, one of the best statistics would be how many income earners there are at each income level. This, statistics canada does not collect, or at least I can't find it.

Also, taxes only play one role in public policy, far more important to low and middle class income earners are the stability or increases in property tax, energy production and distribution, funds available for education-since most families must now both work, as well as the often overlooked government negligence of the competition act which has two companies owning the vast majority of our food supply. The last study I saw showed Canadians pay 40% higher food costs than americans because of this monopoly.

The other thing to keep in mind is that the 'richest', meaning those getting the 'most' out of our country, are not canadians at all. There is a reason that corporate taxes are the lowest they've been in sixty years. Canada is the largest primarily foreign owned economy in the world. So shareholders of oil companies will have profits go to swiss bank accounts, while their operations in canada are taxed at an extremely low level, and with numerous loopholes. So it's like the irish potato famine, the 'richest' in the country don't even LIVE in the country. While the poorest...well, you know the story, let's just hope the potatoes stay OK.

Your facts are also a little bit crooked. According to a Calgary Herald editorial done a couple of months ago indeed "wealthy" Canadians pay 70% of income taxes in this country. Only problem was their idea of wealthy started at an annual income of $65,000. I would consider this income up to $100,000 to be today's middle class and not wealthy since a general definition of wealth is being able to buy pretty much whatever you like without a second thought. The top 10% are not included in these numbers.

I am still an advocate of flat taxation - an even 10% across the board, rich or poor. But it would be on gross income, not net, which is where the rich have a severe advantage over the poor. Imagine how much tax the banks would pay, or the oil companies.....or the executives who run them....

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RickW

Well then, corporations would pay less than they do today, since today they are taxed at almost 50%.

Very few corporations are taxed at 50%. Even generically, the federal tax is only 21%, while most provinces hover around 12-18%. In NB and Ontario, corporate tax is 12%, which gives a grand total of 33%-that's hardly 50%. ANd that doesn't include the extremely low tax placed on specific industries which are taxed at at different rate. The study quoted above from statscan maintains that corporate canada has close to 80 billion hidden in tax havens. The Banking industry was one of the worst.

That also doesn't include tax concessions as well as subsidies. Just go look at the breakdown of any province's budget. In New Brunswick, a dirt poor province where one of the worlds wealthiest families resides, corporate tax contributes less than 10% of the province's budget. That also doesn't include things like the massive quarter billion 'gift' to the forestry sector.

That also doesn't include the fact that Revenue Canada invests next to nil in its corporate audit division. I have a friend who is a CPA and used to work for revenue canada and he basically said that corporations in Canada generally pay whatever they want in taxes.

You will note that I said GROSS income. Show me ONE corporation that pays that much.....

And you rail on about others not reading first......

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RickW