Tax reform options to be released
Posted by Graham on June 4th, 2008
–The Liberals are destroying New Brunswick one report at a time, one bad piece of legislation at a time. The people of New Brunswick deserve better than to be sold out to corporate interests by a bunch of ideologues.
June 4th, 2008 at 11:52 am
This Liberal government is beyond stupid; perhaps the worst NB has ever had. Neoliberal policies such as these have been shown to be harmful the world over. When are we going to get with it?
The people of NB need a real party, better options.
June 4th, 2008 at 12:18 pm
(I don’t know how to put this in blockquotes without looking like a dunce:)
“A simplified personal income tax system and even a single income tax rate of 10 per cent is also proposed.
“It encourages to New Brunswickers to earn more money at the end of the day,” he said. “I mean, the more you earn, the more you’re going to save under a flat tax system.”"
I guess we’ll all have to start working 60 hours a week if most of our jobs are within $2.50 of minimum wage for women and $4.25 (I think) for men…
June 4th, 2008 at 12:19 pm
That last comment is by me.
June 4th, 2008 at 2:19 pm
Jim,
I am not sure of the figures offhand, but you are basically right. Half the working population makes < $5 + min wage.
The tremendous irony is that a flat tax does nothing to make people work harder or make more money. Everyone in NB knows that if you have a good job, then you probably work for the government! That means your salary is paid by people’s taxes. If your taxes go down, the government is giving you a raise, meaning it has to pay you more. Where is the tax money to do that going to come from?
If you work in the private sector, and make a good salary, then chances are you do business with the gov’t as a chief client, or with some gov’t-sponsored entity. That means it is still tax money that finds its way into your pocket.
If you do business entirely with the private sector, then it has nothing to do with the public of NB, and is therefore of no benefit — except by the taxes it pays to the public purse. If someone does business on your turf, they should pay a rent, no?
And finally, if you work in the private sector, then chances are you work for barely a living wage (if you call that living). It is true that these people get screwed over by gov’t taxation and deserve better. We should reduce taxes on annual incomes of <$36,000, and increase the 0% bracket to half that amount.
Our income tax regime is progressive at low and medium incomes - the marginal tax rate above $100k is flat. So the poor and middle class get screwed, the rich do quite well.
As for value-added and sales taxes, they are regressive. They suck more of your income the less you have. Indeed, they plain suck.
The Liberals can’t be serious about these measures. They simply won’t work in New Brunswick. The public is in general disadvantaged economically; only government intervention gives us a good standard of living. The measures the Libs propose would impoverish the public coffers and make the people leave the province in greater numbers, setting up a vicious circle.
We can reduce taxes progressively AND have greater expenditure on public goods and services (education, health care, elder care, child care, etc.) - i.e. have our cake and eat it too. But we will need to elect a government that establishes publicly-owned enterprises that make money for us the way capitalists make money for themselves: Earning profits from producing and selling things, charging rents on land and resources, and receiving interest from finances. These would funnel economic surpluses back into democratic hands.
Socialism or barbarism, in short. There you have it.
June 5th, 2008 at 11:22 am
I agree the proposed measures will make more people look for other work opportunities outside of NB, and I do not believe will encourage more corporations here - it is probably a handout to existing corporations in NB. The increase in hst to 15% will not garner additional revenue for the government either, if people do not have money they cannot spend it and if they do have any they will probably shop outside of NB. This liberal government is floundering around, we need a change in government to one that will establish publicly-owned enterprises, and actually start to manufacture and produce goods in the province and encourage people to come to NB to live and work not to discourage them.
June 6th, 2008 at 1:41 pm
I agree whole-heartedly with you both. All the Liberal government has done here in New Brunswick is tighten the austerity screws a little bit more, making things worse the poorer segments of society, including the middle-class. Those who are really going to feel the pressure from this tax change are the working poor. They’ll see more of their money leave their pockets just for buying the things they need, and then see another 10% taken out by the flat income tax!
I guess this is a part of the Liberal’s plan for “self-sufficiency!” ha! In other words, NBers will become self-sufficient by leaving the province!