This coming from the guy who is always flashing the all the time.

I agree that Canada can't afford the NDP. Believe it or not I actually was considering the conservatives untill I dug a little deeper. Those Tax cuts are pretty tempting! However, if you look at Gordon campbells Tax cuts you will see what happens if the the conservatives had won. When u reduce the taxes in that dramatic of a fashion, the Government loses funding. It then is unable to spend the way it promised to. So we have two choices, go further into debt, or as the Campbell goernment did, increase User Fees. This hits your bottom line and directly affects the lower income families more than it does the higher income families. The conservatives platform is not viable IMHO.

However, I agree that Canada needed a change from the Liberal scandals. And I truly believe that Canada has spoken and that we will get that change. With the minority government in place, MArtin will have to play both sides of the fence. What this means IMO is that to get something done he will have to allow something from the other parties to take place in order to get their vote and support on certain issues. Although it may make decisions a more lengthy process, I think that the appropriate checks and balances will be in place to ensure positve change and growth in Canada.

I think the Conservatives will push for a change in tax brackets, since historically inflation has been driving down what $50,000 dollars is worth and the tax brackets haven't adjusted for it as of yet. $50,000/year used to be alot of money 10 years ago and we were taxed accordingly. IMO $50,00/year is not nearly worth as much but we are still taxed as if it was. Tax brackets need to be adjusted for inflation. We know that the NDP will push for a one tier health care system as will the Liberals. I'm all for that so that union will work as well.

Just my 2cents.

 

thanks for pointing that out, this is a hugely great idea, the rich, who consume more will pay the tax, the poor, who cant afford to buy so much would pay less tax, it makes perfect sense, and then no one could bitch about it

this is something i think is a great idea, just seeing my parents earn all their money (and they work their butts off) to get 50+% taken away, thats BS, and when my dad gets his bonuses (which are quite substantial as he's turned the company he runs into a greatly profitable one), more than half goes to the tax man.. thats BS, if he had all that money, we'd buy so much more, and have no problem paying the tax on that, but no, there's not even an option...


on a side note, i think the NDP/liberals should be **** kicked for their 'dirty tricks' campaign which put harper's name into question, that was uncalled for, low, and childish, i gotta say, i was ashamed to be 'canadian' (joint nationality, i'm still english before i'm canadian, and this is one reason why) when i saw the adverts which, rather than positively spinning their own platform, just threw mud at harper's name... thats low... low, low, low

 

Ian

I was born and raised in th UK. I have dual passport as well and left in 1982 when I was 18. I'm from the Isle of Wight.

Thats right folks. I'm 40 in September. Although you cannot be young forever, you can be immature?

And for the record, although BC highest tax bracket WAS over 50%, it is currently 43.70% and is achieved at income over $88k.

Alberta's is the lowest at 39%. Alberta has a flat tax of 10% on all income no matter what your income is. AND no Sales tax. (Note: the FEDERAL tax rate peaks at 29% of income)

Funny thing, when you don't penalize people for making more money, they seem to become motivated to try and make more money. which means as a tax man, you make more revenue. When yu make more revenue and don't have a debt load to service, you seem to have a lot of money to spend to social programs. Funny thing that.

 

Actually, the tax brackets both federally and here are indexed for inflation. That was one of the ways the Liberals balanced the books in the 1990's. Everybody's wages went up but the tax brackets and dollar levels stayed the same. They raised the federal gas tax and spent less on health as well. So the liberals didn't actually cut the fat to balance the books. They just made us pay more. The federal tax brackets became indexed somewhere around the year 2000. Can't remember the exact year. If you ever look at the federal spending throughout the 90's and up to today you'll see that there was a year or two where the liberals actually did spend less. But they've been spending more and more every year. In fact, they're spending 30% more now than they were in 2000. Unacceptable. Have you gotten a 30% raise in the last 4 years?

I was let down by the attacks in the campaigns. On both sides neither were very noble. Pro pornography and hidden agendas and all. Come on guys.

Yes Alberta has that flat 10% tax bracket and although BC's is lower until around 65,000 when the 9% goes to 11%, you also have to remember that Alberta has a huge advantage when it comes to the basic personal exemption. In BC last year, you didn't pay BC tax until after the first $8,300 of income. In Alberta you don't pay any tax until after the first $13,900 dollars. When you put money into an RRSP, you're getting 10% back in Alberta instead of the 6% or 9% that the majority of British Columbians get back. Another thing about them. Klein has been hinting at maybe dropping the tax bracket from 10% down to 9%.

Federal debt did go down from 550 billion to 505 billion, which is good....but you have to remember we had a week dollar (which made our exports sell like crazy) and low interest rates (which helps lower the money we spend paying for the federal debt interest).

I'll admit that Campbell has had a heck of a hardtime with his 25% tax cut across the board...but Harper wasn't planning on doing the 25% on every bracket. Just the 22% bracket. And Harper would have had that nice fat surplus to use instead of going into the hole like Campbell did. Heck there is over 45 billion in EI surplus that needs to used somehow.

Twitch be-yawch, legalizing marijuana would be easy peasy. Sell it in the pharmacy or in a liquor store like place. Wouldn't need a bigger police force at all. Just like buying booze doesn't require a bigger police force. They could disband their RCMP green team swat teams that are out busting grow ops everyday and put them back into general duty. The pricing would drop down to low levels like cigarettes (since if they charged too high, people would start up the blackmarket like there is now). Grow-ops would fade away as there would be no money in it (except for foreign sales). Can you imagine BC having an industry that makes as much money as logging but is sustainable and renewable without the environmental or dangers of forestry? Americans are becoming more and more against the war on pot that is funneling money into the black market just like we are....just a bit slower. Canadians and Americans are basically the reverse of each other when it comes to guns and drugs.

Some argue that the grow ops would stay and cause trouble for all those rental owners. But I think they would all but dissapear. People are lazy. How many people grow their own tobacco and make their own beer? A few but not many. DuMaurier and Molson are not going out of business anytime soon. Even when the prices go up on both (December last year on cigs, last summer heatwave for beer). Sneeky Campbell announced that 100 million dollar surplus last year.....but that was after he raised cigarette taxes to bring in an additional 94 million dollars. So the surplus was actually 6 million.

One way or another we need to get rid of or at the minimum reduce the sales taxes. It's a major slowdown on sales. Look at how many new cars people bought before the GST took effect and how little people have since. I remember when I bought one of my dehumidifiers. It was $280 and when I got to the till the lady told me that will be $320 please. Arrrrrgh.

BC tax brackets before/after 25% cut

BC's 2004 tax brackets (bracket dollar numbers are indexed compared to the above earlier figure)

 

Temporary? I don't remember that. Could be though. Supposedly the GST was to replace the hidden 12% manufacter's sales tax. Personally I would have prefered to keep it the old way. You never thought about it that way and it wasn't in the price you saw on the bill.

I seem to remember a certain finance minister in the 1990's up the gas tax by 17% as a temporary way to balance the books. The books have been balanced for years, but the tax is still there. Hmmmm, who could he be?