“Canadians are overtaxed” is such a cliché conservative talking point that is grossly oversimplified.
But the claim has been successfully peddled time and again to manipulate the masses into supporting handouts for the already unprecedentedly wealthy one per cent at the expense of everyone else.
So, let’s correct that statement to make it more accurate and truthful.
The average working Canadian is overtaxed.
However, those who earn in hours or days what takes a regular Canadian a year — or more — to earn, are most definitely not. A quick search online reveals that there are no more tax brackets after an annual income of about $210,000. So, anyone eclipsing those earnings is by no stretch of the imagination overburdened by taxes.
Under the former Harper administration’s watch, the tax burden for the first time in this country’s history shifted onto the shoulders of the people away from multi-billion-dollar corporations. That situation has not exactly changed or improved under the leadership of Trudeau, who has largely shied away from making substantially meaningful reform to Canada’s tax code.
But the leader of the federal NDP, Jagmeet Singh, was not shy last week about proposing real change during a “kitchen table” discussion in a Hamilton home, the CBC reported.
Singh, citing information from a report by the Parliamentary Budget Officer, said a one per cent tax on the country’s super wealthy — those with fortunes worth more than $20 million — would generate an annual revenue stream worth billions, amounting to almost $70 billion by the end of the next decade.
The levy would be applied annually and include real estate, luxury items, as well as investments. It would impact a fraction of one per cent of all Canadians.
There was a brief period of time — namely the post Second World War era when marginal tax rates were far higher than today — that no one would have batted an eye at this kind of proposal because the super rich were expected to contribute back to the country that facilitated their accumulation of wealth in the first place.
But the political landscape has changed, for the worse, since then. Every effort seems to be made by the main political parties to make excuses for unfettered greed, generally under the guise of by now thoroughly debunked trickledown economic policy.
Singh was not wrong to point out both the Liberals and the Conservatives are basically nothing more than different sides of the same corporate coin, and it was refreshing to hear.
In an era of multi-billionaires and unprecedented wealth, our government should be investing in the public institutions that have made Canada such a great nation, as opposed to making cuts to justify breaks for billionaires.
While I don’t expect the federal NDP has a snowball’s chance in Hades of becoming Canada’s next government, I hope Singh’s proposal will at least stir up some constructive conversation.
