Tag Archives: taxes
Some thoughts on consumer debt, inequality and taxes
A recent report from Transunion, a Canadian credit agency, shows that consumers in B.C. carry the largest debt load in Canada. This debt includes credit card debt, but not mortgage debt. Given the real estate prices of urban British Columbia, it’s doubtful that adding mortgage debt would improve B.C.’s debtor status. This status, of course, […]
More anti-Conservative links!
Making the rounds is a humourous attack on Stephen Harper and the Conservatives (but mostly Stephen Harper); it’s the aptly-named website shitharperdid.ca. It covers some of the same ground as my own list, but it does add a few new whoppers. The art work and slide show format are things I can’t compete with! […]
Buffett Tells ABC Rich Americans Should Be Paying “A Lot More in Taxes”
Billionaire Warren Buffett has come out and said the equivalent of 2+2=4. Or =666, if you’re a neo-liberal hell bent on even more tax cuts. In a recent interview, Buffett said, “I think that people at the high end — people like myself — should be paying a lot more in taxes. We have it […]
The Neo-Liberal Agenda: The Effects in BC, Part 2
In my last entry, I wrote about the pernicious attempts by the BC Liberals (and other neo-liberals) to promote tax cuts on the basis of improvements in productivity. I explained that these productivity increases simply haven’t happened. This, in turn, suggests that Campbell’s tax cut agenda is bogus and self-serving. The question, then, is what […]
The Neo-Liberal Agenda in BC: Reduce, Just Don’t Shift
Aside from shifting taxation from the business sector to the middle class (like in the HST), the neo-liberal agenda seeks to reduce the overall size of government, particularly in relation to GDP. A classic example of this reduction in government can be found right here in BC. Below is a chart from the BC government’s […]
Recognition of a Keynesian Moment
I rarely take a lead editorial from the Vancouver Sun seriously. This Canwest/Postmedia corporate entity is at the center of right-wing propaganda in BC, and is representative of the very conservative outlook from Canada’s media generally. Nevertheless, today’s editorial provides a sobering analysis of the American economy and its implications for Canada. It’s also a […]
More on the Liberal budget update
Below is an interesting page (p. 144) from the BC Liberal government’s 2009 budget update. If the “devil is in the details”, then this is a great place to start. As I discussed in my September 29th entry, the Liberals are anticipating receiving less revenue from corporate income tax than post-secondary tuition. The former has […]
More on the neo-liberal agenda
One of the truisms of neo-classical economics is that tax cuts for those already wealthy and powerful will “trickle down” to the middle and lower class. In other words, making rich people richer will eventually make everyone richer. One of the most popular versions of this theory is the corporate income tax cut, which supposedly […]
The HST Debacle
In todays’ Vancouver Sun, Vaughn Palmer offers a devastating critique of the BC Liberal’s handling of the HST. Palmer highlights the key revelations of new government documents from a FOI request regarding the HST. Palmer explains that senior government officials were discussing the HST well before the last election of May 12, 2009. He concludes […]
The Alberta Advantage?
Over the last decade, there has been a lot of talk about the Alberta Advantage (aka the Alberta Miracle). Alberta boosters would puff with pride because Calgary had more head offices than Vancouver and other Western cities. It wasn’t just because of the oil patch, they assured us; it was because of prudent diversification and […]