Wednesday 23 March 2011

Tax Shocker? Rich Pay More than Their Fair Share in Canada

It will no doubt come as an interesting discussion point for those both on the right and the left of the political scene to learn that Canada is right up there near the top of countries in terms of taxing the highest income earners! Canada is far above the OECD average, trailing only four countries in the OECD. Now the ideological left can shorten the slogan for the upcoming federal election - "make the rich pay their fair share" can become simply "make the rich pay".

The USA, surprise, surprise, is the country that taxes its rich the most, repeat the MOST. And the country that has been given the image of socialist paradise, Sweden, only taxes the rich their fair share. Poland and Switzerland are refuges for big earners - they tax the least.

This comes from the Tax Foundation website's No Country Leans on Upper-Income Households as Much as the U.S. The place I found this, William M. Briggs, has a neat graph, where Canada hides under the Czech Republic.

3 comments:

Lewin said...

Depends what you mean by "fair". Fair could mean that people who have disproportionately benefited from everything Canada has to offer also contribute a disproportionate amount.

Ghostryder said...

The Tax Foundation? Really?

Do you really think a group owned & controlled by the Koch brothers say anything else?

Do you really think they would ever say that anyone but poor people should pay more taxes?

Anonymous said...

Ghostryder: Why an ad hominem attack?

The definition of "fair" is the relevant part.

Following the link, the author suggests that "fair" means you contribute to the tax base in the same proportion you received income.

That's essentially a flat-tax regime, not progressive.

I think most people view some amount of progressiveness as "fair", so the headline seems wrong.

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