For a brief moment in time "rich" people had a little more than you had. Like maybe you had a 900 foot semi on Waverly Drive and they'd have 3000 feet and a pool on Walnut Crescent. But you could kinda see from here to there.
But times change. Nobody on Walnut Crescent is "rich" anymore. Sure, they're doing OK; their homes are still worth three-quarters of a million, give or take, but the actual rich folks moved out long ago.
They're so far away now you can't see from here to there anymore...
That's a problem that we are slow to recognize and slower to address. "Inequality" is a buzzword for sure, but what is anyone doing about it?
In the Nations of Virtue the trend seems to be to lower corporate taxes and taxes on the rich, which is a never-ending race to the bottom. Trump has done it, Macron has done it, Ireland did it years ago and is leading the race to the bottom...
Tax cuts just give you a turbo boost in the race to get there.
If you look at that Yellow Vest business going on in France, maybe you should be getting a little nervous if you're one of the uber-fortunate. People are fed up and pissed off with being screwed over.
It would be wise for governments to pay attention before they have mobs of pissed off citizens blocking roundabouts.
Why is taxing income acceptable, but taxing other things is off the table?. Why do we treat investment earnings as sacred, while the working man’s paycheck is fair game? Take this further, why are we using an industrial age tax philosophy in the technological age? The world is a very different place economically, compared to a century ago when income taxes were invented. It’s time to think about modernizing taxes.
ReplyDeleteAsset taxes could motivate politicians to attract investment that creates wealth in the nation. After all, if the money available to the politicians is pegged to the asset value of the nation, nationalism makes a lot of sense. That’s why the flunkies and coat holders for the globalist class will be howling in agony at any attempt to debate this idea. Income taxes serve the interest of the post-nation future. Global capital is just a renter, always looking for the cheapest rate, with no stake in the port where they find shelter.
Asset taxes are what are taxed on what you own, not on what you earn. Common examples: property tax on your home, or like in US, car registration fees based on the cars value. It'll happen but not in our lifetime.
Meanwhile, every working stiff should asking why they can't declare themselves "Person Real Estate Corporations" like every realtor in BC does, whereby after you deduct all your Lexus lease payments, gas, client dinners, a percentage of your mortgage etcetera, you are taxed on the remaining 15 per cent. Oh sorry, guess Morneau tried to amend this and it didn't work out so well...
And before I leave (yes, pushed out), I note that today's G&M had a two page spread by Wendy Stueck on the problem of homelessness in BC and Ontario. Shocked, I tell you, shocked! Monthly rents of $1,307 and $1,260 respectively. And so very puzzling given that the overwhelming number of Canada's immigrants settle here and there. Perhaps Ibbotson and Saunders would kindly explain why and how the present level of immigration will address homelessness now and in the future...
ReplyDeleteBut you can't raise the minimum wage because it would just hurt the very people you're trying to help!
ReplyDelete...and if you have a problem with 500,000 people coming in every year when we only build 200,000 housing units,practically none of which are "affordable" for working class Canadians, you're obviously a racist!
ReplyDeleteCheers!
ReplyDelete