Roundup: More tax change caterwauling

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Another day, and more moaning about the proposed small business tax changes, which have now been equated to “class warfare”! Yes, a pair of tax lawyers wrote in the Financial Post yesterday about how the ability for small business owners to split their income with stay-at-home spouses was great policy because it was first proposed back in 1966. I kid you not. Fortunately, economist Kevin Milligan is back after a few days offline, and can help sort some of this out.

https://twitter.com/kevinmilligan/status/898628269938941952

https://twitter.com/kevinmilligan/status/898628697623810049

https://twitter.com/kevinmilligan/status/898629056660295680

https://twitter.com/kevinmilligan/status/898629990144540672

https://twitter.com/kevinmilligan/status/898630306562842624

https://twitter.com/kevinmilligan/status/898630751167553536

https://twitter.com/kevinmilligan/status/898632722964291584

https://twitter.com/kevinmilligan/status/898633195997941760

https://twitter.com/kevinmilligan/status/898721589151191041

https://twitter.com/kevinmilligan/status/898722248999043074

https://twitter.com/kevinmilligan/status/898722513655484417

https://twitter.com/kevinmilligan/status/898740147293782016

https://twitter.com/kevinmilligan/status/898741466620547072

And then there’s this kind of silly thinking:

https://twitter.com/ScottKwas/status/898743029837611010

https://twitter.com/kevinmilligan/status/898748137371652097

Government is not a business. It cannot be run like one, no matter how many times people like to chant it as a slogan. It fundamentally does not operate in the same way, nor can it ever run in even approximately the same way. The absolute fundamental principles do not translate because government has no bottom line. The sooner people grasp this, the sooner we may have more rational discussions on how to better operate government in a sane and rational manner.

Meanwhile, Andrew Coyne is unconvinced by all of the caterwauling about the proposed changes, not seeing the moral advantage that small businesspeople are apparently owed, and suggests instead that the incentives to incorporate be reduced by bringing the topline personal income tax rate and the small business rate closer together.

https://twitter.com/kevinmilligan/status/898719722685906944

https://twitter.com/kevinmilligan/status/898738392548032514

Good reads:

  • The PMO has confirmed that one Canadian was killed and four were injured in the Barcelona van attack.
  • The Quebec Court of Appeal has relented and given Parliament until December 22nd to pass Bill S-3 on eliminating gender discrimination in the Indian Act.
  • While many of Trump’s advisory councils are desert him, the Canada-United States Council for Advancement of Women Entrepreneurs and Business Leaders isn’t.
  • While historians say that removing statues of problematic historical people may not be the only answer, here’s a look at some of the Canadian controversies.
  • Here’s a look at StatsCan’s big error on language data last week, what happened, and how they had to go about fixing it.
  • That’s not StatsCan’s only problem – a leaky air conditioner turned into a major IT outage compounded by Shared Services Canada’s general incompetence.
  • The Pierre Elliot Trudeau Foundation has had a spike in Access to Information requests, no doubt thanks to media reports and associated conspiracy theories.
  • Here’s a long read about the history of Ezra Levant and Rebel Media, and a look at why it’s unlikely to wither despite its current woes.
  • After the events of the past week and all of the white nationalists in both countries, Andrew Scheer seems to be re-evaluating his “free speech on campus” policy.
  • Andrew MacDougall hopes that the Charlottesville events will turn the Conservatives away from the alt-right.
  • Susan Delacourt writes on the political “friendships” of necessity, such as Gerald Butts and Steve Bannon (before his ouster).

Odds and ends:

Here’s a look at the history of the KKK in Canada.

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