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-   -   Will you still emigrate when the Canadian recession kicks in? (https://britishexpats.com/forum/canada-56/will-you-still-emigrate-when-canadian-recession-kicks-733741/)

Lord Vader Sep 30th 2011 12:28 am

Re: Will you still emigrate when the Canadian recession kicks in?
 

Originally Posted by Almost Canadian (Post 9648282)
I don't believe that I have ever stated that any great civilisation will last forever, or that I believe that the US is a great civilization.

What is a "level playing field for all"? A flat tax rate? A progressive one? One that only taxes income? One that taxes capital?


Originally Posted by Alan2005 (Post 9648299)
This is what I'd do if I was in charge:

Progressive taxation on income tax with maybe two or three bands (but no zero band and certainly no tax credits for anything at all, certainly not for activities like decorating your house, going to college, or having kids). No capital gains tax. Any investment held for 3 years or more can be sold tax free. Prior to this, profit counts as income. No asset (including housing) is exempt.

No other levies or taxes. Probably no corporation tax or payroll taxes.

Capital shouldn't be taxed as capital formation is (well it should be) a fundamental underpinning of the free market. True wealth comes from capital and not from borrowing.

I would have a flat tax across the board (say 10%) with few exemptions and a sales tax of say 10% with few exemptions. I would keep the user fees for things like driving licenses and vehicle registration. This keeps the mandatory tax fair and equal and applies user fees on the users. A sales tax would also taxes the rich more effectively under the assumption that they are spending more and consuming more.

I would also increase the wages for politicians, specifically cabinet members and the PM to levels compatible with the CEO's of the private sector.

januarymix Sep 30th 2011 9:03 am

Re: Will you still emigrate when the Canadian recession kicks in?
 

Originally Posted by iaink (Post 9648837)
Youve missed my point, its not about me selfishly wanting to be in the 1%, not everyone can be in the 1%, kind of by definition;) Its about taking care of the bottom 20% and stopping the top 10% screwing over everyone else because of their wealth and associated political influence.

For me its about having a society where everyone has a decent quality of life, and you simply cant do that where a small proportion of people have more than that could ever possibly spend in 100 lifetimes, while others work hard to get by and fail because the system is tilted so far in favour of the wealthy.

Taxing the wealthy is not going to impact their lives any, they can still keep score of how clever (or lucky) they are to be great investors or industrialist by taking home huge salaries and bonuses, but they can give some more of that back so that those at the bottom can have a decent standard of living too, they cant possibly spend it all anyway. Carlos Teves' $300k a week is peanuts to the people I am talking about.

Stop moaning and do something about it?... great advice, I wish I had a clue how to go about dismantelling the current economic and political patronage system, its rather a daunting task. Some smartarse will no doubt say if you care that much give up more of your paycheck to help redistribute the wealth, but frankly what I could do to help is insignificant, I could be taxed at 50%, but I dont think that extra money is going to have much impact compared to taking 30% of what the Westons and Thompsons of this world earn in a year.
Maybe educating others as to the scale of the problem is a start...




I dont really know, but looking at the situation based on US stats I know what has snuck in there is obscene.

Many thanks, Ian

Jingsamichty Sep 30th 2011 12:16 pm

Re: Will you still emigrate when the Canadian recession kicks in?
 
If, using the UK as an example, income tax was scrapped completely, what would VAT have to be raised to in order to raise the same money? Assume that my VAT was levied on every single transaction, from a pint of milk to buying a house.

I've often wondered if sales tax might be fairer than income tax.

iaink Sep 30th 2011 1:08 pm

Re: Will you still emigrate when the Canadian recession kicks in?
 

Originally Posted by Jingsamichty (Post 9649803)
I
I've often wondered if sales tax might be fairer than income tax.

No, absolutely its not, for the simple (and obvious?) reason that even the poor have to buy stuff, most if not all their income ends up spent every month, however the super wealthy simply cannot get close to spending in proportion to their income.

The system you propose would be even more of a burden to the poor than the current shambles because there would be a shortfall in government income from the wealthy that would have to be made up somewhere.

Ditching corporation tax makes no sense either, corporations benefit from all the government funded infrastructure and international security / stability that military budgets and the like are supposed to promote as much, if not more than private individuals, so they should certainly contribute towards the costs.

Jingsamichty Sep 30th 2011 1:22 pm

Re: Will you still emigrate when the Canadian recession kicks in?
 

Originally Posted by iaink (Post 9649877)
No, absolutely its not, for the simple (and obvious?) reason that even the poor have to buy stuff, but the super wealthy simply cannot spend in proportion to their income.

The system you propose would be even more of a burden to the poor than the current shambles.

Ditching corporation tax makes no sense either, corporations benefit from all the government funded infrastructure and international security / stability that military budgets and the like are supposed to promote as much, if not more than private individuals, so they should certainly contribute towards the costs.

Hardly "the system I propose" - it was more of an idle ponder... :)

I remain to be completely convinced by your arguments, however. It would all depend on getting the balance right with the VAT level.

MikeUK Sep 30th 2011 1:57 pm

Re: Will you still emigrate when the Canadian recession kicks in?
 

Originally Posted by Lord Vader (Post 9649184)
I would have a flat tax across the board (say 10%) with few exemptions and a sales tax of say 10% with few exemptions. I would keep the user fees for things like driving licenses and vehicle registration. This keeps the mandatory tax fair and equal and applies user fees on the users. A sales tax would also taxes the rich more effectively under the assumption that they are spending more and consuming more.

I would also increase the wages for politicians, specifically cabinet members and the PM to levels compatible with the CEO's of the private sector.

So... In a nutshell you'd run a huge deficit, one that would make the US's look like a small loan..

You won't get my vote!

Steve_ Sep 30th 2011 2:21 pm

Re: Will you still emigrate when the Canadian recession kicks in?
 

Originally Posted by Kiwilass (Post 9648537)
well, this is purely anecdotal, but the american immigrants i know came here as skilled workers. and they came because they wanted to leave the US.

Of the Americans I've met here, I haven't met any that came in under the skilled worker programme. There was an American at my citizenship ceremony and he'd married a Canadian for example. I remember seeing something on CBC several years ago after Bush was re-elected and there was this "move to Canada" movement. Well not many Americans moved to Canada and as I recall from the CBC bit they filmed it in Vancouver when they found a couple of Americans who did move.

Steve_ Sep 30th 2011 2:27 pm

Re: Will you still emigrate when the Canadian recession kicks in?
 

Originally Posted by Lord Vader (Post 9649184)
I would have a flat tax across the board (say 10%) with few exemptions and a sales tax of say 10% with few exemptions.

We have a flat tax of 10% at the provincial level in Alberta which hasn't worked imo. What has happened is that the rich pay less and the poor pay more. The disparity is so great that it has led to calls for the minimum wage to be increased, whereas if we were using the same rates as BC, they would pay less tax and a minimum wage increase wouldn't be necessary.

Flat taxes are a flawed idea, they were what was in place prior to progressive taxes. People get carried away with this "simplification" argument. As far as I can see they lead to one of two outcomes - overtaxation of the poor or not enough tax revenue (or both).

I see one of these pratty American presidential candidates saying there should be 9% sales tax, 9% income tax and 9% corporation tax - the imposition of a 9% federal sales tax doesn't even come close to making up for the lost revenue from income and corporation taxes.

Steve_ Sep 30th 2011 2:29 pm

Re: Will you still emigrate when the Canadian recession kicks in?
 

Originally Posted by Blendin (Post 9649072)
Are we talking about US citizens or individuals living in the US (H1-B) ?

As the table in the link points out, US citizens.


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