Canada's Taxation Myths

[Anonymous]

An eye opener considering all the myths fed to us by leftist media and big money NGO's. Government is growing too big and the course must be reversed for the sake of future generations.

Everything government does ends the same way. Sure, the issues differ. But the result is almost always the same: More debt, bigger government.



That's why if you read only one current affairs book this year, make it Mark Milke's Tax Me I'm Canadian! First published in 2002, this second edition is mostly new material. It's easy to read and full of facts presented so anyone can understand.



Milke, a senior fellow with the Fraser Institute, begins with a history of taxation.



The book moves on to some of Canada's biggest structural challenges, including



As for public-sector employees: In 2011, the public payroll hit 3.6 million, but "Statistics Canada noted 17.7 million Canadians were employed across Canada in 2011, so one in five Canadians received pay, perks and pensions from governments in some fashion."



That's an unsustainable ratio. The chapter breaking down Aboriginal community funding makes it clear the current model only further entrenches poverty: "It is a tragedy when human potential is squandered because of activist-induced ideas which promote the fiction of self-sufficiency and sovereignty in the middle of nowhere as opposed to integration with the wider human community."



The Occupy chapter addresses the argument for the rich to pay even more. In 2010 the bottom 73% of tax filers — those making less than $50,000 — paid 17% of the taxes. The 1% at the top contributed 20%.

If you think a book critical of rising taxes must involve corporate shilling, think again. Milke explains how our extensive corporate welfare system doesn't really work.



Of "Canada's Top 25 companies by employee count, only five of the Top 25 employers received any corporate welfare at all, most of those in small amounts."



Also the line that GM and Chrysler paid back their bailout money and then some is proven wrong.



But Milke also takes on extremism from the other end of the spectrum — such as arguments that income tax is actually unconstitutional or those who believe absolutely no tax is ideal.



Although there can be no doubt, after reading this book, that the real extremists are on the left. While there is much ado in the press these days about "right-wing extremism," fiscally speaking, it's hard to take this as anything other than media fiction.



Government keeps growing and today's size becomes tomorrow's baseline. Which means whatever the left advocated for in the past is the present's new standard. Rinse and repeat and tomorrow you're Greece.



If we keep moving further left year by year, it's hard to argue that someone standing up to object is a far rightwinger. They're just less left wing than the extremists. There's little ground not covered in Tax Me I'm Canadian! although it would have been interesting to read Milke tackle more municipal concerns, such as intergenerational social housing abuse and the current neglect of basic infrastructure.



The solution? All is not lost, yet. Milke writes of not just right-leaning, but also NDP governments that implemented cost-saving measures.



The last chapter explains how Switzerland's use of referendums has worked.



The remaining question, for those already on board, is how to get others to see government through this lens. For people who realize perpetual growth is the biggest threat to our future, including our social programs, it seems impossible that for many the issue isn't even on their radar.



But then again if we could answer that, we wouldn't be where we are in the first place.

http://www.edmontonsun.com/2013/10/15/mark-milkes-tax-me-im-canadian-tackles-canadas-taxation-myths">http://www.edmontonsun.com/2013/10/15/m ... tion-myths">http://www.edmontonsun.com/2013/10/15/mark-milkes-tax-me-im-canadian-tackles-canadas-taxation-myths

[Anonymous]

An expanding, expensive and powerful civil service is another area where no party dare show some leadership.

Last Wednesday, the new federal Parliamentary Budget Officer, Jean-Denis Frechette, released a study of wages in the federal civil service showing that Ottawa has seen the bill for its 278,000 non-military, non-RCMP civil servants rise by $7.8 billion over the past decade.



That doesn't sound like much out of a federal budget that is now north of $265 billion annually. But 10 years ago, the feds' wage bill was just $11.6 billion.



That means in just a decade, Ottawa's obligation for civil servants' salaries and wages — excluding the military, Mounties and Crown corporations — has risen by almost exactly two-thirds.



And Frechette didn't examine the higher cost of pension contributions, bonuses, severance and medical and dental benefits. He looked strictly at wages, and wages make up just 72% of the compensation of the typical federal civil servant. If the other perks rose by as much as wages and salaries, then the total rise is closer to $11 billion.



Much of the increase in the federal wage bill was the result of cost-of-living increases written into civil servants' contracts. Half of the bigger bill comes from automatic inflation adjustments. That means that for at least the past five years, while private-sector workers have lost money to inflation, federal workers have just kept chugging along.



The other half of Ottawa's higher wage bill is the result of "new hires in the federal public service," according to Frechette.



In good times and in bad, the federal employment rolls just keep expanding.



By the time the Liberals left office in early 2006, they had hired back as many workers as they had laid off during their austerity years in the 1990s.And after the Tories under Stephen Harper replaced the Grits, the hiring freight train just kept on barrelling down the track.



Since the supposedly frugal Tories took power almost eight years ago, the federal workforce has expanded by 18% according to Frechette's numbers.



And that number doesn't tell the whole, expensive truth.



Prior to the layoffs of the 1990s, the civil service was made up of more clerks, labourers, receptionists and journeymen. Since then, the vast majority of new hires have been managers, administrators, technicians and specialists, each of whom costs taxpayers vastly more than the workers let go in 1995-96.



Frechette's prickly (but highly effective) predecessor, Kevin Page, estimated last year that every civil servant hired in recent years had cost taxpayers $114,000 a year. That compares to an average of under $70,000 annually per private-sector worker.



How does the private sector respond to recession? It lays off workers and freezes the wages of those who remain.



How does the public sector respond?



We know from Frechette's report they hire even more employees and pay them even more money.



How can the public sector get away with such illogical economics?



Because it's playing with other people's money.



Unlike private-sector executives who have to answer to shareholders and must keep an eye on the bottom line, public-sector administrators can just keep on spending because the politicians who fund them keep on taxing or taking on debt to pay for the never-ending expansion of government.Cowardly politicians of every political stripe are mostly to blame.



Bureaucrats, whether federal, provincial or municipal, are a new privileged class in Canada.



Public-sector workers used to forgo higher private-sector wages in return for more job security and better pensions. Now they get the trifecta: More job security, vastly better pensions (heavily subsidized by taxpayers) AND better pay.



Since 1995, public-sector wages in Canada have beaten inflation by 22%. Private-sectors wages have come ahead only 9%.



And your taxes are paying for that.

http://www.edmontonsun.com/2013/10/11/study-shows-civil-servants-hit-the-jackpot">http://www.edmontonsun.com/2013/10/11/s ... he-jackpot">http://www.edmontonsun.com/2013/10/11/study-shows-civil-servants-hit-the-jackpot

[Anonymous]

An expanding, expensive and powerful civil service is another area where no party dare show some leadership.

Last Wednesday, the new federal Parliamentary Budget Officer, Jean-Denis Frechette, released a study of wages in the federal civil service showing that Ottawa has seen the bill for its 278,000 non-military, non-RCMP civil servants rise by $7.8 billion over the past decade.



That doesn't sound like much out of a federal budget that is now north of $265 billion annually. But 10 years ago, the feds' wage bill was just $11.6 billion.



That means in just a decade, Ottawa's obligation for civil servants' salaries and wages — excluding the military, Mounties and Crown corporations — has risen by almost exactly two-thirds.



And Frechette didn't examine the higher cost of pension contributions, bonuses, severance and medical and dental benefits. He looked strictly at wages, and wages make up just 72% of the compensation of the typical federal civil servant. If the other perks rose by as much as wages and salaries, then the total rise is closer to $11 billion.



Much of the increase in the federal wage bill was the result of cost-of-living increases written into civil servants' contracts. Half of the bigger bill comes from automatic inflation adjustments. That means that for at least the past five years, while private-sector workers have lost money to inflation, federal workers have just kept chugging along.



The other half of Ottawa's higher wage bill is the result of "new hires in the federal public service," according to Frechette.



In good times and in bad, the federal employment rolls just keep expanding.



By the time the Liberals left office in early 2006, they had hired back as many workers as they had laid off during their austerity years in the 1990s.And after the Tories under Stephen Harper replaced the Grits, the hiring freight train just kept on barrelling down the track.



Since the supposedly frugal Tories took power almost eight years ago, the federal workforce has expanded by 18% according to Frechette's numbers.



And that number doesn't tell the whole, expensive truth.



Prior to the layoffs of the 1990s, the civil service was made up of more clerks, labourers, receptionists and journeymen. Since then, the vast majority of new hires have been managers, administrators, technicians and specialists, each of whom costs taxpayers vastly more than the workers let go in 1995-96.



Frechette's prickly (but highly effective) predecessor, Kevin Page, estimated last year that every civil servant hired in recent years had cost taxpayers $114,000 a year. That compares to an average of under $70,000 annually per private-sector worker.



How does the private sector respond to recession? It lays off workers and freezes the wages of those who remain.



How does the public sector respond?



We know from Frechette's report they hire even more employees and pay them even more money.



How can the public sector get away with such illogical economics?



Because it's playing with other people's money.



Unlike private-sector executives who have to answer to shareholders and must keep an eye on the bottom line, public-sector administrators can just keep on spending because the politicians who fund them keep on taxing or taking on debt to pay for the never-ending expansion of government.Cowardly politicians of every political stripe are mostly to blame.



Bureaucrats, whether federal, provincial or municipal, are a new privileged class in Canada.



Public-sector workers used to forgo higher private-sector wages in return for more job security and better pensions. Now they get the trifecta: More job security, vastly better pensions (heavily subsidized by taxpayers) AND better pay.



Since 1995, public-sector wages in Canada have beaten inflation by 22%. Private-sectors wages have come ahead only 9%.



And your taxes are paying for that.

http://www.edmontonsun.com/2013/10/11/study-shows-civil-servants-hit-the-jackpot">http://www.edmontonsun.com/2013/10/11/s ... he-jackpot">http://www.edmontonsun.com/2013/10/11/study-shows-civil-servants-hit-the-jackpot

Shen Li, you blame civil servants for everything that ever goes wrong in Canada.

[Romero]

Private-sectors wages have come ahead only 9%.

That's because the private sector insists on paying so little. Unless you're an executive or CEO.



Civil servants provide great service, work hard and deserve decent pay and benefits. They're great for the economy too. They provide Canada with many more billions in services than the "cost" of simply paying them a respectable wage for doing a good job. They consume goods and services(businesses prosper), buy property and vehicles(which also gives a chunk of money to the financial sector), and educate their children(which really provides to the economy).



Some people would like the public sector to be paid minimum wage and whittled down by the thousands. It would be an economic disaster.



Speaking of economic disasters, a handful of private sector caused the Great Recession. How many billions and trillions of dollars has that cost Canada and the rest of the world? A single corrupt CEO can be worth billions of dollars and sometimes cost us billions of dollars, but God forbid we spend that same kind of money on hundreds of thousands of citizens doing a good job.

[Anonymous]

Private-sectors wages have come ahead only 9%.

That's because the private sector insists on paying so little. Unless you're an executive or CEO.Civil servants provide great service, work hard and deserve decent pay and benefits. They're great for the economy too. They provide Canada with many more billions in services than the "cost" of simply paying them a respectable wage for doing a good job. They consume goods and services(businesses prosper), buy property and vehicles(which also gives a chunk of money to the financial sector), and educate their children(which really provides to the economy).



Some people would like the public sector to be paid minimum wage and whittled down by the thousands. It would be an economic disaster.



Speaking of economic disasters, a handful of private sector caused the Great Recession. How many billions and trillions of dollars has that cost Canada and the rest of the world? A single corrupt CEO can be worth billions of dollars and sometimes cost us billions of dollars, but God forbid we spend that same kind of money on hundreds of thousands of citizens doing a good job.

Romero, I work as a provincial civil servant and my husband works in private industry..



He makes 2.5 times more money per year than I do and he is not a CEO.

[Romero]

You're absolutely right, Fash! The private sector does pay very well. Definitely a case against the 'public sector wages have increased more than private wages' argument. It's well known that many workers in the private sector make more than workers in the public sector.



I was actually thinking of the private sector overall. All the people working in service industries etc. making minimum wage. The majority of private sector workers haven't seen much in wage increases.



Wage increases for both the private sector overall and public sector have been pretty much nothing with inflation and standard of living. But wages for executives and CEOs have been skyrocketing.

[Anonymous]

You're absolutely right, Fash! The private sector does pay very well. Definitely a case against the 'public sector wages have increased more than private wages' argument. It's well known that many workers in the private sector make more than workers in the public sector.



I was actually thinking of the private sector overall. All the people working in service industries etc. making minimum wage. The majority of private sector workers haven't seen much in wage increases.

There is more a of a variance in the private sector than in the civil service..



It doesn't seem to matter what your job is you get the same wage increase or freeze in the provincial civil service..



With my husband's company it depends on a number of factors including, but not limited to what you do, what credentials you have, the company's financial health and demand for your talent..



His raises and bonuses have been above average for the last three years, but there are people in his company with minimal skills who haven't fared as well..



All I know is that I am satisfied with my job, my salary and most importantly the flexibility I have...very important when you have a family.

[Anonymous]

You're absolutely right, Fash! The private sector does pay very well. Definitely a case against the 'public sector wages have increased more than private wages' argument. It's well known that many workers in the private sector make more than workers in the public sector.



I was actually thinking of the private sector overall. All the people working in service industries etc. making minimum wage. The majority of private sector workers haven't seen much in wage increases.



Wage increases for both the private sector overall and public sector have been pretty much nothing with inflation and standard of living. But wages for executives and CEOs have been skyrocketing.

No it isn't, public sector wages have increased more than they should. We are talking about Alberta and we are talking about a journeyman tradesman.



You keep talking about adults who choose to work in kiddie jobs. If they don't like their wages get the fuck out. if you owned a liquor store, bakery or gas station you would pay minimum wage too. It's that or go broke. Small business owners are NOT greedy assholes you know.