Canadian Tax Fairness??? Yeah, right.

Vincent J. Curtis

25 Sept 2017

cf Should the loudest voices prevail on tax reform?  by Michael Wolfson as published this date in the Hamilton Spectator.  Wolfson is "an expert adviser with EvidenceNetwork.ca and a member of the Centre for Health Law, Policy, and Ethics at the University of Ottawa.  He was a Canada Research Chair at the University of Ottawa." 

After reading Michael Wolfson’s eye-glazer of an opinion piece, two things stand out.  First, he is quite free imputing immoral motives to other people; second, for all his numbers, he really doesn’t understand what he is talking about.

The federal government has been in a financial squeeze since the collapse of oil prices.  In a desperate search for more money, the Canada Revenue Agency has been beating the bushes for every dime it can find – to the point of being counter-productive.  The Trudeau government got elected with an expansive spending program, and it is being cramped by lack of revenue.  The Ontario economy is not delivering the revenue it ought, on account of madcap provincial Liberal policies hostile to business large and small – as the late Jim Flaherty used to complain about.

To capture more revenue, the Trudeau Liberals are going to change the tax code which was put in place by his Dad, back in 1972.  What was deemed good by one Trudeau is deemed “unfair” by another.  Unfairness is the pith of Wolfson’s argument, echoing the Trudeau-Morneau-Liberal line.  If there is a misdirection here (of which Wolfson complains) it is the use of unfairness and the correction thereof to justify a tax grab.

The issue of tax fairness was decided back in 1972.  For forty-five years, farms, family businesses, and small enterprises worked under a tax code as it was, and that had been determined politically to be fair by Pierre Trudeau himself.  The sole purpose of the changing the rules in the middle of the game is plain and simple to capture more revenue for a government desperate for money.

If, in a fit or morality, the government decided to be fairer to all taxpayers, why doesn’t choose to spend less?  Why doesn’t it choose to lighten the burden across the board?  Why doesn’t it redistribute less?  In short, why in the name of fairness does the screw always have to tighten?  Why can't it be loosened for the others who aren't getting the benefits the Trudeau Liberals now find unfair and immoral?  Why can't it try a revenue-neutral change - eliminate so-called "loop-holes" and lower the rate in accordance with the expected gain?  We are talking about fairness aren't we?

(I know - stupid questions!)

Never mind the bright, shiny thing Trudeau and his friends are excitedly pointing at that they call fairness.  Fairness has nothing to do with it.  Fairness is based upon an ethical system which they aren’t about to explain.  What Trudeau and Morneau are after is a fast buck that will get them through the next few years, and they want to cover themselves with glory in the process.

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