Our country, Canada , is looking at some proposals to change the small business tax to make it "fairer"
We have a very low business tax in this country. It's much lower than what the ordinary working citizen would be taxed at.
Then there are the "loop holes." Businesses can income sprinkle. I like that term. It means that a small business can pay family members a salary if they are under 24. This means that the kids would be taxed at the lowest rate. It also means that the small business has less income to pay taxes on.
Then there are shares that can be bought in the business which means no tax is paid at all.
Then there are special taxes when the business is sold or passed on and these taxes are also low. For example, farmers are exempt from capital gains on a certain part of their farm.
So the small business people are up in arms. They can come up with all kinds of silly reasons why the tax should remain at the low rate. Most of it is their own choice. They don't have employment insurance or other benefits. They could buy these benefits like I do. The cost of benefits were deducted from my paycheck.They have long hours of work. Well, guess what? I worked 60 hours a week when I taught. I was not able to get time off to go to my kid's school interviews. They gave me three days to travel to another province for my Mother's funeral.
Small businesses feel they should get a tax break for creating jobs.
So I am taxed at a higher rate than small businesses. Not fair. It's been going on for a long time and the government is seeing tax that they are not collecting.
So I hope that some of the proposed changes are adopted and the tax rates are fair
Showing posts with label fairness. Show all posts
Showing posts with label fairness. Show all posts
Thursday, September 7, 2017
Friday, January 4, 2013
What in the World is Social Justice
In the last two posts I have thrown around the term social justice. I didn't define social justice. I'm sure that books have been written about social justice but I haven't read them.
However , I believe in social justice. Since I was a teacher in a middle school classroom for thirty seven years, I long ago understood that there were major differences in people. For example, physical and mental skills varied widely. Learning styles ran a wide gamut. Then we can consider learning difficulties or learning disabilities. All of these folks can succeed and live happy productive lives.
Okay , what's this got to do with social justice. The playing field, the rules, the opportunities have to be there in a way that makes it fair. Don't set up laws or rules that give an advantage to one group and penalize another group. That's what I've been talking about in the previous two posts. Rules were set up and broken for First Nations people. At one time aboriginals had to have permission to leave the reserve.
From a wider perspective...the Occupy Movement...taxes can be set up to give certain groups an advantage. The one percent that the Occupy Movement focused on have major advantages because of government regulations. So the income gap between the top incomes and middle incomes keep getting wider. You might say this is an example of Social injustice. Historically women were at a disadvantage in many ways...maternity benefits and leave, wages, pensions...So females had a tougher time to succeed because some of the cards in the deck were stacked against them.
One example that really upsets me is where subsidies are applied. In many cases it is a license to print money. I'll give you one example. In Alberta oil companies are paid $300.00 per meter to drill an oil well. I can not believe that there is any reason to subsidize rich and profitable oil companies. Do small one man companies ever get a subsidy like that?
There are some sad stories in Canada. The Chinese at one time were charged a fee for the right to come to this country and work. They were not allowed to bring their families. In WW II the Japanese in Canada had their property confiscated and were sent to work camps. Their property was never returned although 60 years later they received an apology and some compensation. We are again setting up second class workers with the immigration policy that we have for temporary foreign workers.
So I see social justice as a policy the gives a fair opportunity for all people to succeed with the skills and abilities they have.
However , I believe in social justice. Since I was a teacher in a middle school classroom for thirty seven years, I long ago understood that there were major differences in people. For example, physical and mental skills varied widely. Learning styles ran a wide gamut. Then we can consider learning difficulties or learning disabilities. All of these folks can succeed and live happy productive lives.
Okay , what's this got to do with social justice. The playing field, the rules, the opportunities have to be there in a way that makes it fair. Don't set up laws or rules that give an advantage to one group and penalize another group. That's what I've been talking about in the previous two posts. Rules were set up and broken for First Nations people. At one time aboriginals had to have permission to leave the reserve.
From a wider perspective...the Occupy Movement...taxes can be set up to give certain groups an advantage. The one percent that the Occupy Movement focused on have major advantages because of government regulations. So the income gap between the top incomes and middle incomes keep getting wider. You might say this is an example of Social injustice. Historically women were at a disadvantage in many ways...maternity benefits and leave, wages, pensions...So females had a tougher time to succeed because some of the cards in the deck were stacked against them.
One example that really upsets me is where subsidies are applied. In many cases it is a license to print money. I'll give you one example. In Alberta oil companies are paid $300.00 per meter to drill an oil well. I can not believe that there is any reason to subsidize rich and profitable oil companies. Do small one man companies ever get a subsidy like that?
There are some sad stories in Canada. The Chinese at one time were charged a fee for the right to come to this country and work. They were not allowed to bring their families. In WW II the Japanese in Canada had their property confiscated and were sent to work camps. Their property was never returned although 60 years later they received an apology and some compensation. We are again setting up second class workers with the immigration policy that we have for temporary foreign workers.
So I see social justice as a policy the gives a fair opportunity for all people to succeed with the skills and abilities they have.
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