Corporations sit on the cash they make from tax cuts rather than create jobs with it, a new Canadian Labour Congress study reports.
corporate tax cuts
Misrepresented by the media: Layton meets Harper
The NDP leader met with Stephen Harper last week. Pertinently, Jack Layton laid out to the prime minister four measures he wants to see from the government in the March 22 federal budget before his party decides whether to vote for it -- or not.
G20 South Korea: A call to end tax breaks to oil and gas companies
(Ottawa) On the eve of the G20 meeting in South Korea 18 leading organizations from across the country are calling on Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Minister Jim Flaherty to follow through on their G20 promise to end tax breaks to oil and gas companies.
"Prime Minister Harper has left a trail of broken promises on this issue, the G20 meeting is an opportunity for him to finally follow through on his commitment to end tax breaks to rich oil and gas companies," says Graham Saul of Climate Action Network Canada. "In an era of fiscal responsibility and a growing climate crisis, giving a free ride to these companies is irresponsible."
Financial sector plays no role in deficit reduction
Ever since the 2008 financial crisis, Canadian banks have enjoyed almost heroic stature for not being like those bad Wall Street banks that collapsed, triggering a global recession.
Certainly there's been no talk of imposing higher taxes on Canadian banks, to make them help pay for the huge government deficits brought on by the financial crisis and resulting recession.
That wouldn't be fair, since our banks -- unlike the Wall Street banks -- played no role in bringing about the financial crisis.
But why doesn't that logic apply to other groups who also played no role in bringing about the financial crisis?
Using debt for the common good
Students do society a favour when they pay the full cost of borrowing money to finance their studies. Since it serves all of us to live among knowledgeable citizens: the education they receive is a public good; it works for us all.
Those graduates who educate others, care for us when we are sick, or help us when we are in need of professional assistance are especially valued; we expect to pay decently for their services, and professionals expect to be taxed on earned income throughout their careers. What individual benefits are derived from education are paid for throughout a lifetime of work.
Budget 2012: Jim Flaherty is structurally incompetent
Ideology makes you stupid and if someone gives you power it makes you dangerous. That makes Jim Flaherty, Canada's finance minister, one of the most dangerous people in Canada as he prepares to deliver one of the most draconian and irrational budgets in recent years.
Finance ministers have a huge amount of leeway in deciding what economic or fiscal issues they are going to devote the most time to in a budget. They can focus on economic growth per se, or employment, or productivity or shifting the macro-focus of the economy to anticipate future developments, or decide to build a modern infrastructure to enhance the country's competitiveness -- or any combination of the above.
