Word warriors letter #95 – Raise taxes on the rich to save the nation

This is an appeal to every word warrior to write a letter to the editor over the next week to ten days calling for increased taxes. The budget will be brought down March 4^th. The debate should last at least a week, maybe two.

The issue of taxes and tax increases remains one of the most important facing Canada in the next few years – indeed, if those supporting activist, social democratic government do not win this battle over the tax-cutters like Harper and Co the viability of Canada as a nation-state will be in question.

I am convinced that this is exactly what Stephen Harper wants. His massive tax cuts since coming to power – and his criticism of TD Bank CEO Ted Clark for suggesting tax increases prove it. Harper is a radical libertarian even to the point of ignoring Bay Street. The latter recognizes the need for a state to provide the things (like education, health care, roads, police, etc) that they can’t provide. Harper wants to starve government to death. He always has.

WRITE A LETTER TO YOUR LOCAL NEWSPAPER AND COPY THE GLOBE AND MAIL (letters@globeandmail.ca) and the CBC (thenational@cbc.ca ) calling on the government, and opposition parties, to use this budget to raise taxes to save Canada from fiscal ruin and the collapse of democratic government.

FRAMING: We need to counter the framing that Harper and other use – referring to Canadians’ “tax burden” – posing taxes as an affliction. Taxes are the price we pay for a civilized society. [Other re-framing ideas include taxes as an investment in our children's future, or the price of admission to a desirable club: Canada.] Canada is not just facing a fiscal deficit, it is facing a social equality deficit and an infrastructure deficit – deficits which can only be addressed by government intervention – and that requires revenue.

Framing #2: For over twenty years the tax system has been getting more and more regressive with the wealthy paying less and less of their fair share. It is time – as Ed Clark of the TD Bank says – to increases taxes on the wealthy and on wealth.

Some facts and arguments you use in your letters:

Tax cuts by the Liberal and Conservative party government’s of the past 10 years have gutted the federal coffers of tens of billions of dollars – billions that would provide news services (name your favourite ones) and enhance old ones (Medicare, home care, Pharmacare, subsidies to universities).
Stephen Harper is so hostile to the whole concept of government he told the Globe and Mail “I don’t believe any taxes are good taxes.” If you take that to its logical conclusion, you believe that no expenditure is a good expenditure – including, presumably, spending on defence and policing.
Our deficit this year will be almost $40 billion – and will remain high for years into the future – we are mortgaging our children’s future by refusing to pay our way now.
The source of that deficit is not spending – it is tax cuts. Over the past ten years Liberal and Conservative governments have given up $250 billion in revenue by tax cuts going disproportionately to the wealthy and large corporations. In terms of lost yearly revenue it amounts to at least $60 billion a year (the annual federal budget is about $250 billion)
Tax cuts when spread out amongst millions of people do almost nothing to enhance individuals’ or families quality of life – but taken as a whole these cuts undermine social programs that do enhance our lives
By reducing the GST from 7% to 5% Harper deprived the federal government of nearly $13 billion a year – enough to finance a national child care program. This reduction put an insignificant amount of money back into citizens’ pockets – but robbed social programs of billions they need. We should raise that GST back to 7% (NOTE: The GST is a regressive tax to be sure, but it easy to collect, hard to avoid and many progressive economists argue that once in place, it should be left where it is as it would be difficult to replace.)
MOST IMPORTANT: The wealthy have received the lion’s share of personal tax cuts over the past 10 years to the point where we face a structural deficit – meaning no matter how string the economy, we will remain in deficit. We must increase taxes on the wealthy and super-wealthy.
In the early 20th century, the top one percent of Canadian income earners took home 15 percent of total national income. That declined to 11 percent after WWII then to 7.5 percent by 1980. Radical tax cutting has taken us backwards a full century - in 2008 the top one percent took home nearly 14 percent of national income — nearly twice the share they had 30 years ago.
In 1949, personal income tax brackets ranged from 15 to 84 percent on the wealthiest Canadians. By 1994, the range was 26.35 to 46.4 percent and in 2009, the range had been compressed again – four brackets from 15 percent, to just 29 percent on wealthiest Canadians. [tinyurl.com/yaggah7]
The richest 1% of families also now pays a lower tax rate than the poorest 10%. [http://tinyurl.com/y8bf8mc ]
Ultimately the only way to eliminate the structural deficit is to cut social programs or raise taxes. Canadian have consistently said they would be willing to pay more taxes if they knew the money was going to things like Medicare, education and reducing child poverty.
Even Canada’s corporate leaders, like the TD Bank’s CEO Ed Clark, and John Manley, head of the Canadian Council of Chief Executives, are calling for tax increases on the wealthy – what do they know that the Harper government doesn’t?
The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) says people in Denmark, Finland and the Netherlands are the most content with their lives. The three ranked first, second and third, respectively, in the OECD's rankings of "life satisfaction," or happiness – they are also amongst the highest taxed countries in the developed world.

We need to increase taxes by (pick the ones you agree with strongly):

Increase income taxes on the wealthy and super-wealthy by adding several new tax brackets, and taxing income over $2 million at 80% (craft your own numbers here).
Bring back the wealth tax – a tax on inheritance that kicks in at amounts over $1 million
Bring the GST back to 7% and raise $13 billion.
Be more aggressive at pursuing tax evaders by going after off-shore tax havens and prosecuting those who deliberately evade paying taxes
Eliminate the final two installments of Harper’s corporate tax cuts – cuts which otherwise will bring our rate down to 15% - compared to 35% in the US. Roll back the most recent cuts so that corporations pay at least 25% on taxable income.