- Reaction score
- 35
- Points
- 560
Most modern flat tax schemes have fairly generous earnings exemptions which effectively remove poor people from taxation.
As for RRSP and RESP's, allowing savings to compound so people have resources to gain educations or retire without being a burden on the community are socially responsible. It seems odd that "Progressives" only see the generosity of the State as being the only means for people to make progress, the remark by the Liberals that people would spend their child care money on "beer and popcorn" exemplifies this attitude.
Consider the amount of time and effort that most people have to spend to do their income tax, the fact that a fairly sophisticated accounting industry exists to cater to poor and middle class people who are overwhelmed by the complexity of their tax forms (H&R Block etc.)you can see where a large portion of the estimated $30 billion dollars of compliance costs is going, and the contortions that more sophisticated people have to go through to minimize their taxes through deductions, tax planning and so on is another big cost. The vast mechanism of the Canada Revenue Agency absorbs much of the rest (and I suppose there is a fraction that is lost due to "friction").
Will we ever see a flat tax? Inertia and the huge benefits that favored groups can gain by manipulating the tax code make me think this will be a very long term battle, and may even need an external push like an economic meltdown or the realization that we are engaged in WW IV to shake the old system down.
As for RRSP and RESP's, allowing savings to compound so people have resources to gain educations or retire without being a burden on the community are socially responsible. It seems odd that "Progressives" only see the generosity of the State as being the only means for people to make progress, the remark by the Liberals that people would spend their child care money on "beer and popcorn" exemplifies this attitude.
Consider the amount of time and effort that most people have to spend to do their income tax, the fact that a fairly sophisticated accounting industry exists to cater to poor and middle class people who are overwhelmed by the complexity of their tax forms (H&R Block etc.)you can see where a large portion of the estimated $30 billion dollars of compliance costs is going, and the contortions that more sophisticated people have to go through to minimize their taxes through deductions, tax planning and so on is another big cost. The vast mechanism of the Canada Revenue Agency absorbs much of the rest (and I suppose there is a fraction that is lost due to "friction").
Will we ever see a flat tax? Inertia and the huge benefits that favored groups can gain by manipulating the tax code make me think this will be a very long term battle, and may even need an external push like an economic meltdown or the realization that we are engaged in WW IV to shake the old system down.