Roundup: The dream of tax simplification

Posted on by

With the big economic debate coming up tomorrow, it’s with no small bit of amusement that noted economist Jack Mintz dropped a bomb in the middle of the election, and blowing open the pledges of most of the parties. In particular, Mintz says that the corporate tax rate should be lowered so as to keep those companies from shifting the burden in the form or lower wages or higher prices; raising the small business tax rate because it’s largely used by the wealthy to pay lower taxes; and eliminate a suite of investment tax credits to make the whole system simpler and fairer. In other words, doing pretty much the opposite of what the NDP has promised, and to a degree what the Conservatives have promised with their small business tax rate promises and more boutique tax credits than anyone knows what to do with. In fact, you’d be hard pressed to find an economist who thinks that boutique tax credits are a good idea – particularly as Harper promised yet another bunch, this time for single and widowed seniors, and as Kevin Milligan explained, it’s pretty useless considering that a) it’s non-refundable and a lot of those seniors already don’t pay taxes, and b) we have a number of other income supports for seniors. (Also, I think this means that Harper is officially trolling singletons and childless couples, who are now the great pariahs of tax credits). The consensus would be that it’s better to eliminate the boutique tax credits and simply lower the overall tax rate – but how would parties be seen as rewarding “deserving” Canadians of those tax credits. (Again, it would seem that singletons and childless couples are not deserving.) Harper claimed that his boutique tax credits haven’t made tax forms too complicated. That sound you hear is every accountant in the country laughing, because it’s simply not true. We need major tax reform in this country, overhauling the system from top to bottom. (Same with the Criminal Code, incidentally). Too bad nobody is going to campaign on that.

https://twitter.com/kevinmilligan/status/643841869735006208

https://twitter.com/kevinmilligan/status/643842726228680704

On the campaign:

Good reads:

  • Some NDP luminaries (and other celebrities) signed onto Naomi Klein’s “Leap Manifesto” about changing capitalism, and some people on social media made a Thing of it.
  • Patrick Brazeau pleaded guilty to assault and cocaine charges in exchange for the sexual assault charges being dropped. He’s hoping for an unconditional discharge.
  • The federal government lost their appeal on the niqab ban at citizenship ceremonies, in a ruling from the bench no less.
  • Quebec’s National Assembly voted to ban applause during Question Period. Now let’s hope the federal parliament follows suit.
  • The military’s interim Sexual Misconduct Response Centre is going to have limited hours (at least for now).
  • There are questions as to whether the Conservatives are buying Facebook “likes.”
  • In case you were worried, both Trudeau and Mulcair have agreed to the Munk debate on foreign policy, after some concerns were expressed about bilingualism.
  • David Akin fact-checks Justin Trudeau’s shambolic response to the “surprise surplus” news on Monday, and it’s not pretty.

Odds and ends:

Here’s an explainer on the shiny copper roofs on the parliament buildings, and how long it takes for them to turn green.

The Conservatives lost yet another candidate for social media remarks.

Conservative campaign manager Jenni Byrne’s brother-in-law, a former ministerial staffer, broke ethics rules regarding post-public office holder employment.