A friend sent an e-mail recently, attaching a 25-page report from the Broadbent Institute. This study supposedly refutes other think tank reports that say Canadians are overtaxed. He says that I am (inexplicably, he claims) adverse to Ed Broadbent and his institute but I should read the report anyway.
In defence, I should explain that I like to see the qualifications of the researchers and check the bias of the those commissioning the study before accepting its findings. In this writer’s estimation, the left-wing Broadbent Institute and the right-wing Fraser Institute are both frauds. Why would either of them bother to publish a study that did not fit their bias? The academics doing so many of these so-called studies seem to be biases for hire.
And there is just too much of this biased material being issued these days. The Americans have taken to calling it all false news. Soon, we will have difficulty sorting it all out.
The pity is that we used to respect the better news media that could afford to have the proper research done and give us balanced reporting. As the media lose advertising support and have to downsize, it seems to be this research capability that is the first to go. We end up with the dominant media in Quebec being controlled by a millionaire separatist and the rest of Canada being fed a diet rich in right-wing propaganda.
All this being said, there are some truths in the Broadbent Institute report. The basic thought is that you get what you pay for. Canada is not the highest taxed country nor the lowest taxed.
I found it very funny years ago when one of my brothers first made a few million dollars. He was normally quite right-wing in his attitude but he honestly admitted to me that he was embarrassed that Canada’s tax laws allowed him to keep more of the money than he expected. And was it not American billionaire Warren Buffett who complained a few years ago that his secretary paid a higher U.S. tax rate than he did?
Rich people who want to pay more taxes, should be encouraged to pay more.
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Copyright 2017 © Peter Lowry
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