Ed Broadbent recently wrote on the need for real tax reform, calling for an end to the various favours our government bestows on the ultra rich. His thesis was compelling:
Tax avoidance and evasion by the rich ultimately undermines democracy: it starves social programs and public services, increases after tax income and wealth inequality, and further concentrates economic resources in the hands of a few. The overall message to a majority of Canadians is that the rules of the economic game are rigged against them.He went on to excoriate the Trudeau government for its hypocritical failure to pursue real tax reform:
The Liberals promised change. In their 2015 election platform, they promised to “conduct a review of all tax expenditures to target loopholes that particularly benefit the top 1 per cent.”While I did not agree with all of his suggestions, I doubt there would be many who would dispute Broadbent's thesis. In today's Star, readers offer their views on his piece as well as the sickening truths made evident in the recently-released Paradise Papers. Here is but a sampling of their thoughts:
But there has been no broad public review in which citizens could participate. And action to date has been limited to stopping abuse of some private corporation rules. Minister Morneau has said he will impose higher taxes on the small number of private corporations that shelter investment assets of more than about $1 million, which is an action that should be supported.
Ed Broadbent writes, “The case for taxing investment income on the same basis as employment income on the grounds that ‘a buck is a buck’ dates back to the Carter Commission of the 1960s when another Liberal government failed to act on it.”
The problem is the ultra-rich are Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s personal friends and he prefers to run defence for them than to do what is right for the public good.
Former finance minister Allan MacEachen tried to reform the tax system under then-prime minister Pierre Trudeau but, like Carter before him, the government of the day distanced itself from any idea of true reform and let both of these truly honourable men get practically eviscerated by all the real (rich) powers. It’s all about the Golden Rule: “Them that’s got the gold makes the rules.”
Jennifer A. Temple, Welland, Ont.
After decades of tax avoidance by Canada’s wealthy, we now have the exposure in detail of the Panama Papers and the Paradise Papers.
Our current federal government assures Canadians it will restore the principle of tax fairness. Why should Canadians believe this promise? It is the political process and our elected MPs that preserve this economic injustice.
As the Star reported, Parliament and those who bankroll them control the law. It is highly unlikely the wealthy will forfeit their advantage simply because Canadians think it’s unfair.
Talk is cheap and the government won’t move until pushed. I challenge all Canadians to organize a Canada-wide tax boycott. Until tax fairness is achieved, we should refuse to pay any taxes owing, beginning April 2018.
And every MP should be lobbied to support an immediate tax overhaul. Tax fairness can only be achieved by law, not mealy mouthed promises by those concerned only with preserving their own self-interest to the detriment of the rest of us.
Gordon Wilson, Port Rowan, Ont.
Ed Broadbent shines a bright light on the biggest issue of our time: tax reforms that will cut through many complex aspects of our socioeconomic system.
A progressive and clearly defined tax system would address many issues we have been struggling with since the dawn of the 21st century.
We need a tax system that encourages savings and productive investments, while it shifts the tax burden from working people to the wealthy and big corporations. For many years, the middle- and lower-class have been paying taxes while the rich have been taking advantage of it.
A reformed tax system will prevent the creation of generations of wealthy individuals and corporate monopolies, which have taken advantage of societal privileges without paying their fair share. The wealthy have made their money on the backs of the working people.
The Paradise Papers show how the rich, with the help of law firms, have parked 12 per cent of the world’s wealth in offshore accounts, which does nothing to improve the economy. The sheer number and diversity of people and corporations involved in these tax havens is frightening. It is truly like discovering a galaxy of hidden money that public officials have a hand in helping hide away.
Reforming the tax system is possible if there is political will.
Ali Orang, Richmond Hill
We used to believe that, because the wealthy benefited from roads, schools, hospitals and all the other services government provides, they should pay their fair share of the burden. That principle was buried long ago, Lorne.
ReplyDeleteThe narrative today seems to be that they are all self-made successes, Owen, irrespective of the taxpayer-financed benefits bestowed on them by the country on their way to great fortune. Hubris reigns.
DeleteFew Canadians have ever seen the tome that is our income tax act. Fewer still have ever read it. If they were handed that awful text they would never be able to make sense of it. I can remember writing my five hour tax exam. When I came out of the class I disemboweled the book, ten or twenty pages at a time. There are others who take to it like fish to water and they usually wind up very wealthy for advising the well off how to become even better off while remaining more or less within the letter of the law. The distinction between tax avoidance and tax evasion can be murky and gossamer thin. However the intricacies of the Act leave most Canadians to grumble "it's not fair."
ReplyDeleteI will take your word for all of this, Mound. I am lost in it, but one can't help but feel the heavy weight of unfairness that seems inherent in it for the average person.
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