Quote:
Originally Posted by schilli
5% GST and the PST should be matched to it! As far as raising tax... corporate tax should be hiked...[b] not on small corporations but on the big ones... Wal Mart... Exxon... the banks as they pull billions and should pay out BIG![/i]
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That sort of thinking sounds good to the average person on the surface, but once you consider the reality of it it suddenly loses it's appeal. For one thing, let's say that huge corporation employs 10,000 people, they bring in 10 billion a year and are taxed at only 10%. (I'm just working in approximations here so bear with me)
That's a tax chunk of $1 Billion they pay to the government. Plus all those 10,000 employees each pay their 30 or 40% in taxes, I don't even want to try calculating all that.
Now suppose you tell that huge corporation that their tax rate next year will be 45% "Like it SHOULD be".... what do you suppose will happen? Sure they'll have to kick in 4 times what they paid last year, but I'm quite certain they'd have to, oh, close some stores? Maybe lay off a few thousand of those employees. Maybe divert future business development plans away from Canada and into other countries instead? Those so-called "tax breaks for big business" are there for a reason. They come with incentives for those corporations to reinvest back into this country to boost our economy.
And frankly, penalizing the wealthy for their success isn't the answer either. Most people earning decent money are more than willing to pay their fair share but when 5% of the population are paying 90% of the taxes well, there's something wrong.