Taxes are killing us.

[Machjo]

Yep, I agree with that, same I guess with the G.S.T. and P.S.T. if you don't like paying them don't buy things where that tax is imposed. Income tax is the worst offender and also the hardest and most expensive to collect.

Though in some ways the GST is not so different from income tax since it applies to pretty well everything. As a result, it's no more avoidable than income tax really. The advantage with a resouce tax is that those products services that are less resource dependent will avoid much of that tax while those that are more resource dependent will be more heavily affected by it, as a result the true social cost of the product or service in question will be more apparent, and that way if you can find a way to recycle a resource you could reduce your tax burden significantly. With a wide-sweeping GST, that's harder to do.

 

[Machjo]

Another thing I wouldn't mind would be for taxes on your personal wealth and income to be charity deductible as much as possible so as to give you more say in how it will go towards benefiting the society.

 

[JLM]

Another thing I wouldn't mind would be for taxes on your personal wealth and income to be charity deductible as much as possible so as to give you more say in how it will go towards benefiting the society.

Yep, tax deductions for contributions to charities is pretty lame. Maybe deductions to charities could be on a sliding scale.......considerable for those to do with feeding, housing and providing medical aid and less for endeavours like saving three toed sloths.

 

[Machjo]

Yep, tax deductions for contributions to charities is pretty lame. Maybe deductions to charities could be on a sliding scale.......considerable for those to do with feeding, housing and providing medical aid and less for endeavours like saving three toed sloths.

I'm not sure abut that. What's the difference between you giving to a charity to save the three-toed sloths and having the government give to a government department filled with highly paid unionized staff with a mandate of saving the three-toed sloth? You might as well give it yourself.

 

[theconqueror]

This might sound silly, but I spent all night one day to solve this problem. My solution was to raise tax to %75 and have a stimulus package that refunds %25 of the total pot in the government tresurey as a monthly payback stimulus check. What happens is that your first monthly stimulus refund could be as high as $200,000.

It is a rapid money generating sceme that splits the tresurery's pot 50-50 with the people per month.

I got the idea from the U.S. Stimulus Package. They tried the same approach as my theory just backwards taxing $1 for every welfare reciepient in the states, who all got $300 in a stimulus payment. If you divide it up they all made $25 a month on $1 a year tax using this method.

 

[Bar Sinister]

These are the federal tax rates in Canada. What is paid provincially will vary by province. But I doubt that it adds up to 42%.

What are the income tax rates in Canada?

 

[Liberalman]

And the ethical ones try to get funding cut to those smart ones.

The ethical ones are the special interest groups that everyone complains about

 

[JLM]

This might sound silly, but I spent all night one day to solve this problem. My solution was to raise tax to %75 and have a stimulus package that refunds %25 of the total pot in the government tresurey as a monthly payback stimulus check. What happens is that your first monthly stimulus refund could be as high as $200,000.

It is a rapid money generating sceme that splits the tresurery's pot 50-50 with the people per month.

I got the idea from the U.S. Stimulus Package. They tried the same approach as my theory just backwards taxing $1 for every welfare reciepient in the states, who all got $300 in a stimulus payment. If you divide it up they all made $25 a month on $1 a year tax using this method.

Sounds very much like a Ponzi scheme.................:lol::lol::lol::lol::lol:

 

[Machjo]

Actually,I was thinking of something else but don't know if it would work or not.

Let's say you had to give 3% of your income towards helping the poor, 10% to education, and 10% to a cause of your choice, or something along those lines. So, essentially, you could give that 3% 'poor tax' to a charity of your choice as long as it's earmarked towards helping the poor, or you can give it to the government which must then earmark it towards helping the poor. The 10% 'school tax' you could either give to a public school of your choice (by public I don't necessarily mean state-owned,but as long as it it a not-for-profit school that is open to all), or you could just give it to the government to give it to a public school of its choice. And the 10% 'charity tax' you could give to a cause of your choice or to the government to give it to a cause of its choice.

As for any other taxes, the government would limit itself to resource taxes only, thus giving those who do not want to pay that tax the option of avoiding resource consumption as much as possible. They'd likely have to by some on occasion, but at least they'd have some control over it. Beyond that, it could use other kinds of legislation to protect the most vulnerable members of society such as co-determinaiton laws and such.

Such a system would force us to accept our responsibilities towards society but in such a way that we'd also have more of a say in how we shall exercise that responsibility. Right now, the government just takes our money and wastes it however it wants.

 

[SirJosephPorter]

i get taxed 30% of my cheque

You mean you pay 30% of your cheque as taxes? That is way too high (unless you have an income well into six figures, even then there are ways to bring your taxes down to below 30%), I don't think you are making use of all the legitimate tax saving devices available.

 

[SirJosephPorter]

You're right that the GST is likely less progressive than income taxes. But that can be remedied in various ways. No point throwing the baby out with the bath water. For example, the money collected could focus more on the most vulnerable, or co-determination laws and other such laws can help to redistribute wealth too. The NDP criticized the Greens and Liberals ferociously over the Green shift on the grounds that it would penalize the most vulnerable of Canadians. The Greens and Libs, though acknowledging this weakness, countered that it could be corrected the same way the GST by sending it back to the poorest. It still serves as a means of encouraging saving. I'd say replace the GST with a resource tax and reduce income tax too while we're at it. That way, there's be a natural incentive built into the economy to use our resources more efficiently.

Quite so. GST is mainly tax on disposable income. There is no GST on essentials like food or rent. So those who have more disposable income benefit a lot from GST cut, those who have very little disposable income, save very little.

No doubt this could be corrected, but I doubt Harper took any steps to help the poor (e.g. by increasing the GST rebate).

I think there is a lot to be said for value added tax, like they have in Europe. With VAT in general, the more expensive something is, the more it gets taxed, percentage wise (since it has more added value, and value may be added more than once during the processing). I think VAT is more progressive than GST. And of course there is no VAT on essentials.

Also since VAT is hidden, folded into the price of the article, it is not visible to people at large and hence does not cause aggravation. If you see that the price of the car is 30,000 $ and you must pay 4500 $ tax on top of that, that causes much more aggravation, much more anger than if the price of the car is 34,500 and no taxes to pay.

 

[AnnaG]

Now that's what I like about more selective taxes like resource taxes and what not. You're actually free to use your imagination to try to find ways around it... legally!

With income taxes, you're screwed no matter what you do.

Barter more. Trade eggs & fruit for stuff. Garage sales, yard sales, etc. High taxes breeds underground economies.

 

[SirJosephPorter]

Another thing I wouldn't mind would be for taxes on your personal wealth and income to be charity deductible as much as possible so as to give you more say in how it will go towards benefiting the society.

I think charity deductions are pretty generous already. You can donate up to 75% of your income to charity and still be eligible for tax deduction on that (look up Schedule 9 in the tax return). I doubt that most people donate to the upper limit permissible.

I don't think increasing the upper limit from 75% to say, 100% is going to make any difference.

 

[SirJosephPorter]

These are the federal tax rates in Canada. What is paid provincially will vary by province. But I doubt that it adds up to 42%.

What are the income tax rates in Canada?

I think the top rate would add up to that. The very top rate, the one that kicks in above 127,000 may amount to more.

 

[relic]

Anybody remember a few{?}years ago when our leaders got all panicky about the "underground economy",and had tv adds about how it was going to ruin the country because of all the taxes the govt was missing out on,and we should rat out our neighbors if they were trading stuff,it was funny as hell.

 

[AnnaG]

Anybody remember a few{?}years ago when our leaders got all panicky about the "underground economy",and had tv adds about how it was going to ruin the country because of all the taxes the govt was missing out on,and we should rat out our neighbors if they were trading stuff,it was funny as hell.

lol Really? I'll have to look into that. Sounds like a good and fun read.

 

[AnnaG]

Just as I said, "Legal activities conducted underground to escape taxation appear to be the fastest-growing component of the irregular economy, largely because of our tax system. The potential gains from illegal tax evasion are greater at high tax rates." Underground Economy - The Canadian Encyclopedia

 

[Bar Sinister]

I think the top rate would add up to that. The very top rate, the one that kicks in above 127,000 may amount to more.

I don't think so. Even the highest marginal rate is only 35%. And the number stated was only 69,000 far below the highest marginal rate.

 

[JLM]

I don't think so. Even the highest marginal rate is only 35%. And the number stated was only 69,000 far below the highest marginal rate.

Income tax is just the tip of the iceberg, when tax is mentioned a lot of people jump to thinking about income tax, forgetting the other 47 taxes we encounter daily, some disguised as fees, levis, surcharges, etc. etc. etc. The human race has got to smarten up taxes, fat and garbage is killing us. To the best of our ability we should be boycotting retail outlets and substituting flea markets, and yard sales. Just the other day I got another credit card in the mail, (which I have absolutely no intention of activating) I guess about a month ago I signed some paper to get 10% off some patio furniture I was buying...............and people are wondering about all the credit card fraud.......... no wonder with so many millions of them out there. When I was a kid stores were open about 44 hous a week, now they are closed about 44 hours a week. This "shop till you drop" mentality is killing us between trips to McDonalds and A & W. Not to mention all the extra pollution caused from driving to these places (for which we pay more tax)

 

[theconqueror]

Sounds very much like a Ponzi scheme.................:lol::lol::lol::lol::lol:

A very well working Ponzi scheme it would be! ;-)

But as the Government of Canada, it could very well get away with it. Doesn't that mean all Stimulus methods are Ponzi schemes though?