babble is rabble.ca's discussion board but it's much more than that: it's an online community for folks who just won't shut up. It's a place to tell each other — and the world — what's up with our work and campaigns.
Support rabble | Advertise with us | Contact our staff | About rabble | Log-in or Register for a new account | Corrections | Privacy policy | Newsfeeds | Mailing lists
rabble: Features | Columnists | In Cahoots | Blogs | Books | Photos | What's Up | Polls
babble: Forum Topics | Active Topics
The rpn: About the RPN | Become a podcaster
rabbleTV: Program Guide | Features | Indie Inside | Best of the net
Copyright © 2001-2013 the authors
Syndicate
I'd like to see the NDP run on Robin Hood type themes - but that's not something the party so-called "modernizers" can get behind.
Stock's recollections jibe with mine. Rae won brandishing a list of corporations that paid no income tax. The numbers were done for the Federal NDP, I used them in two columns for the Financial Post. Rae was/is a great orator; he made the most of those numbers, calling for a Fair Tax Commission which he subsequently created. It produced a very good report. The government brought in a corporate minimum tax.
This built on opposition to the GST led by the National Action Committee on the Status of Women, and the Action Canada Network. The Ontario Federation of Labour (with Sec.-Treasurer Julie Davis who was then Ontario NDP president playing a big role) ran a very successful Fair Tax Campaign. Over a million people signed OFL petitions in Ontario (before the internet) on the issue, not long before the very unexpected Rae Victory.
Now the sad part. Rae got defeated by Mike Harris, the "tax fighter" using Reform style faux populist politics, to stage a pretend tax revolt. Rae ran on himself, consigning his Fair Tax Commission report to the dustbin, sadly. In 1995, the Federal government reduced transfers to the provinces. They hated seeing Harris get the credit for tax cuts. Harris did his number on the poor, education, health, recreation, culture, etc. to pay for the cuts.
In BC Jack Layton calls the HST the Harper Sales Tax. He is on to something. At his town hall here he exclaimed "too bad" Ontario is not like BC where there is widespread citizen opposition to unfair taxes.
Consumption taxes are fine so long as you re-distribute income, which we don't in Canada to any degree. We are not similar to high consumption tax countries in Europe on that score. We also do not make corporations pay real taxes on value added by their employees. limiting ourselves to rather small CPP contributions, and UI premiums at the Federal level, and very little in the provinces (health and safety maybe).
The NDP should always call for fair taxes, and attack unjust taxes. Northing should be said that is not research backed. N.B. the pro-consumption tax people around labour are significant players in part because labour researchers differ on the issue as debates on babble have revealed. Personally I am against making people who have less income pay more in taxes proportionately that those who have more income. Go Andrea go.
The GST/HST turned business into tax collectors, and then reduced their taxes. Lots of "independent" workers went underground by not registering for the GST. Many poor people do no get the GST credit. The GST was probably the worst public policy of the last 40 years along with free trade. Thanks Brian. Forever lying Brian for good reason.
Ayup, that post was a ringer.
Well, despite Andrea's marketing of the anti-HST, her real problem is not with the tax, but with the corporate tax breaks that make the HST necessary. We are trasnferring the tax burden from profitable corporations and moving them on to regular people.
Hudak on the other hand has no problem with corporate tax breaks, he just has a problem with taxes in general.
There really isn't any common ground here.