A Liberal MP says an equity tax on the rich and inheritances are needed to pay off the pandemic bills..But Blacklock’s Reporter said Thursday the Parliamentary Budget Office predicted that would cover less than a tenth of ongoing deficits..Deficits from the onset of COVID-19 to 2026 are $686.1 billion, by official estimate..“I think we have to tackle wealth inequality,” Liberal MP Nathaniel Erskine-Smith (Beaches-East York, Ont.) earlier told the Commons..“Of course I would like to see a social safety net akin to a basic income that leaves nobody behind..“The math does not work directly, so the money generated from an excess profits tax and a wealth tax would not even address the first issue of a minimum income let alone the other noble objectives..Erskine-Smith requested the PBO figures and sponsored Motion 68 pending in the Commons that asks the cabinet to “address rising extreme wealth inequality and generational fairness concerns by implementing a one-time tax on extreme wealth to help pay for the pandemic response.”.Erskine-Smith wants a 3% tax on assets over $10 million, a 5% tax on assets over $20 million, and an inheritance tax on estates worth more than $5 million..All three measures combined would raise $60.7 billion over five years, said the PBO, the equivalent of 8.8% of ongoing deficits over the period..Analysts noted “uncertainty with respect to revenues raised by the tax” due to “behavioural responses” by millionaires. Parliament abolished the federal inheritance tax in 1972..The Commons last November 16 by a 292-27 vote rejected a similar New Democrat motion to impose a 1% equity tax on assets over $20 million, and an excess profits tax on corporations..“It is easy and wonderful to say to people we are going to tax the wealthiest and we are going to do this, do that, and take all that money and give it to the poor,” said Liberal MP Kevin Lamoureux (Winnipeg North), parliamentary secretary to the Government House Leader..“At the end of the day, we need to spend time focusing on Canada’s middle class.”.Conservative MPs opposed the motion in Commons debate and warned of higher costs of borrowing..“In the future, in three, four or five years when interest rates get back to normal, the biggest spending increases will go toward paying the interest on the debt the government is racking up,” said MP Pierre Poilievre (Carleton, Ont.)..“The biggest threat to our health is this government’s out-of-control spending and debt,” said Poilievre, who predicted taxpayers “will wind up paying more for the interest on our debt than we spend on health transfers.”. The Canadian Taxpayers Federation is calling on the government to rein in spending again..“Politicians’ eat-the-rich mentality is just silly political posturing,” said Franco Terrazzano, Federal Director for the CTF..“The PBO data shows that the Trudeau government’s deficit spending would burn through the extra cash in about a month, so if the feds don’t start saving money, it will be everyday Canadians that get clobbered by the debt tab.”.Dave Naylor is the News Editor of the Western Standard.,dnaylor@westernstandardonline.com,.Twitter.com/nobby769
A Liberal MP says an equity tax on the rich and inheritances are needed to pay off the pandemic bills..But Blacklock’s Reporter said Thursday the Parliamentary Budget Office predicted that would cover less than a tenth of ongoing deficits..Deficits from the onset of COVID-19 to 2026 are $686.1 billion, by official estimate..“I think we have to tackle wealth inequality,” Liberal MP Nathaniel Erskine-Smith (Beaches-East York, Ont.) earlier told the Commons..“Of course I would like to see a social safety net akin to a basic income that leaves nobody behind..“The math does not work directly, so the money generated from an excess profits tax and a wealth tax would not even address the first issue of a minimum income let alone the other noble objectives..Erskine-Smith requested the PBO figures and sponsored Motion 68 pending in the Commons that asks the cabinet to “address rising extreme wealth inequality and generational fairness concerns by implementing a one-time tax on extreme wealth to help pay for the pandemic response.”.Erskine-Smith wants a 3% tax on assets over $10 million, a 5% tax on assets over $20 million, and an inheritance tax on estates worth more than $5 million..All three measures combined would raise $60.7 billion over five years, said the PBO, the equivalent of 8.8% of ongoing deficits over the period..Analysts noted “uncertainty with respect to revenues raised by the tax” due to “behavioural responses” by millionaires. Parliament abolished the federal inheritance tax in 1972..The Commons last November 16 by a 292-27 vote rejected a similar New Democrat motion to impose a 1% equity tax on assets over $20 million, and an excess profits tax on corporations..“It is easy and wonderful to say to people we are going to tax the wealthiest and we are going to do this, do that, and take all that money and give it to the poor,” said Liberal MP Kevin Lamoureux (Winnipeg North), parliamentary secretary to the Government House Leader..“At the end of the day, we need to spend time focusing on Canada’s middle class.”.Conservative MPs opposed the motion in Commons debate and warned of higher costs of borrowing..“In the future, in three, four or five years when interest rates get back to normal, the biggest spending increases will go toward paying the interest on the debt the government is racking up,” said MP Pierre Poilievre (Carleton, Ont.)..“The biggest threat to our health is this government’s out-of-control spending and debt,” said Poilievre, who predicted taxpayers “will wind up paying more for the interest on our debt than we spend on health transfers.”. The Canadian Taxpayers Federation is calling on the government to rein in spending again..“Politicians’ eat-the-rich mentality is just silly political posturing,” said Franco Terrazzano, Federal Director for the CTF..“The PBO data shows that the Trudeau government’s deficit spending would burn through the extra cash in about a month, so if the feds don’t start saving money, it will be everyday Canadians that get clobbered by the debt tab.”.Dave Naylor is the News Editor of the Western Standard.,dnaylor@westernstandardonline.com,.Twitter.com/nobby769
