You three need to rethink your advice. Just how much money do you think the average Canadian has to invest considering that they have to pay the tax difference for these corporate bums?
The above is a tax-related issue... On that note, I believe that another poster started a thread that detailed the "relative" increase in taxes over the last few decades and compared them to the "relative" increase in the costs of living.. By far and away, the increase(s) in taxes far outstripped the CPI or rate of inflation (or the relative increase in the population).
My interpretation of your above concern relates more directly to the expenditures on a per capita basis more than the (record) tax revenues that have been collected.
What I am concerned about is that these huge corporations live off the infrastructure created by the average Canadian while amassing huge profits. Since most of these businesses are foreign owned most of the profits are sent out of the country with little or no benefit to Canadians.
These corporations also pay for the infrastructure through their taxes. On that note, a corp pays taxes on their direct/indirect revenues (corporate tax); upon paying their employee/consultant/contractor base, those aforementioned groups in turn pay corporate taxes (for contractors as an example) and then pay additional taxes on those monies that they claim as personal income.
The government makes money on every transaction (generally speaking) where money changes hands and is considered revenue.
What I am driving at is that without a "wealthy" entity that is prepared to spend, none of those revenue streams (tax) exist.
In terms of foreign ownership, much of what you state is accurate; however, one of the problems that we have here in Canada (specifically) is that we don't have the deep pools of capital that are interested in, or willing to invest very large sums of money.
And no, Slim, the oil industry in Canada does not pay a ton of cash into the kitty; at least not by international standards. I expect you do not know this, but Canada is one of the few nations in the world that does not demand a share of ownership in its oil industry. As a result the profits of oil companies operating in Canada are much greater than most other oil exporting nations. In fact some nations own 100% of their oil resources. Canada is unique in that it allows foreign corporations to come into the country, exploit the resources, and escape after paying little or nothing in the way of taxes. Small wonder that oil companies operating in Canada frequently post record profits.
I gotta disagree with you on that one. I am very familiar with the oil/gas industry and I can state quite confidently that Canada does gets its pound of flesh from the industry.
In terms of taxes, see the above explanation as a partial response. Add to this that government assumes a royalty position on each and every bbl that is extracted by a major exploration/production company. Depending on the amount of production, the royalty can hit up to 50%.... That's one hell of an equity position for a body that doesn't assume any risk or put up any cash in terms of investment
