from "Vote for a Change campaign",
a sponsored feature from the Centre for Social Justice
(Toronto) — Sixty six economists have signed a statement warning that the tax breaks being offered by the major parties will leave a huge deficit in social services and contribute to greater inequality in Canada.
The group endorsed the Call to Action issued by the Vote for a Change Campaign, which represents over twenty major organizations including the Anglican Church, the Council of Canadians and the Canadian Labour Congress.
"By failing to tax income trusts, reducing the tax on dividends, and virtually eliminating the tax on capital gains, Martin and Harper have rewarded the wealthy and punished the poor" says David Langille of the Centre for Social Justice. "It means taking money from needy Canadians — money that could have been spent improving our health system, making education more accessible, renewing our crumbling infrastructure, or reducing poverty in Canada and around the world."
"These measures will lead to stark and growing inequalities of income and wealth in Canada. Even the US under Bush has a federal estate inheritance tax to reduce inequalities between generations," adds Toby Sanger, an economist with the Canadian Union of Public Employees.
"The Conservative Party's proposal to eliminate income taxes on reinvested capital gains is especially damaging, because it would deliver very large tax savings to a tiny group of high-income Canadians," said Jim Stanford, economist with the Canadian Auto Workers. "Moreover, defining, monitoring, and policing the six-month reinvestment requirement would create an administrative nightmare for the federal government."
The economists estimate the annual cost to Ottawa of the proposed tax cut would be close to $2 billion, many times higher than the figure contained in the Conservative Party's official plan (which listed the measure as costing only $750 million over 5 years).
"The Conservatives have underestimated the true cost of this measure by a significant order of magnitude," said John Loxley, Professor of Economics at the University of Manitoba. "This raises significant questions about the reliability of their overall fiscal plan. The uncounted costs associated with this measure alone would reduce estimated federal surpluses by several billions of dollars over the term of the next government."
Another negative feature of the proposal is the extent to which its benefits would be received by a very concentrated group of very high-income Canadians. "There is no other tax measure whose benefits are more closely at the top of the income spectrum," said Andrew Jackson, Economist and National Director of Social and Economic Policy for the Canadian Labour Congress. "Over 40 percent of taxable capital gains income is declared by the tiny fraction of Canadians who earn over $250,000 per year. They are the ones who will reap the benefits of this policy, which would greatly exacerbate inequality in Canada."
The Call to Action had already been endorsed by other prominent Canadians, including Maude Barlow, Ed Broadbent, June Callwood, Avi Lewis, Naomi Klein and Linda McQuaig. They believe the federal government is failing to meet its national responsibilities. According to their statement, it is not doing enough to provide affordable housing, health care, education and protection for children and seniors. And it is failing to keep its promises to the world on issues like climate change and international aid.
The campaign is calling on Canada's next government to:
Improve public health care for everyone not just those who can afford it.
Keep Canada's promise to the world on climate change, instead of just talking about it.
Meet our obligations to the UN on aid and making poverty history.
Remove barriers to new Canadians in our communities and workplaces.
Keep post-secondary education accessible to lower and middle income students.
"We want Canadians to vote for candidates and parties that reflect these priorities", said David Langille, Director of the Centre for Social Justice. "They can help set the agenda for the new government in Ottawa. We'll make sure that every candidate gets the message that we are voting for social justice, not tax cuts."
Vote for a Change campaign partners include: Anglican Church of Canada, Campaign 2000, Campaign Against Child Poverty, Canadian AIDS Society, Canadian Association of Food Banks, Canadian Auto Workers, Canadian Child Care Advocacy Association, Canadian Federation of Students, Canadian Housing and Renewal Association, Canadian Labour Congress, Canadian Union of Postal Workers, Canadian Union of Public Employees, Centre for Social Justice, Communications Energy and Paperworker's Union, Community Social Planning Council of Toronto, Council of Canadians, Disabled Women's Network Ontario, Kairos, National Anti-Poverty Organization, National Association of Women and the Law, Ontario Coalition for Social Justice, Ontario Coalition for Better Child Care, Ontario Council of Agencies Serving Immigrants, Public Service Alliance of Canada, Toronto and York Region Labour Council, Toronto Coalition for Better Child Care, Toronto Disaster Relief Committee, United Church of Canada, Urban Alliance on Race Relations
The initiative was coordinated by the Centre for Social Justice in Toronto. The full listing of participating economists, and the full text of the statement they signed, is provided at the site below.
For further information please contact: David Langille, Director of the Centre for Social Justice, at the email address below or call 416-927-0777, 416-605-9534 cell, or call toll free to: 1-888-803-8881.
Related addresses:
E-mail: langille@socialjustice.org
URL 1: www.VoteforaChange.ca
URL 2: www.socialjustice.org
URL 3: www.voteforachange.ca/economists
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