[Lemmy]

hurley_108 hurley_108:

I've read different.

I can't apologize for my colleagues who are wrong. The cut in the GST turned out, albeit unintentionlly, to be most effective stimulus the Canadian economy received during the recession. And since we know poor people spend all their income, it has offered timely assistance to the most needy Canadians.

[hurley_108]

Lemmy Lemmy:

hurley_108 hurley_108:

I've read different.

I can't apologize for my colleagues who are wrong. The cut in the GST turned out, albeit unintentionlly, to be most effective stimulus the Canadian economy received during the recession. And since we know poor people spend all their income, it has offered timely assistance to the most needy Canadians.

I'll concede that. And as we're invoking Keynes already in lauding stimulus, wasn't it he who said "When the facts change, I change my mind. What do you do?"

[sandorski]

Raising the GST would certainly close the gap significantly. There's no problem with Consumer Spending right now(as of Q4 2010 anyway), in fact Consumer Spending has been overheated, even the BoC has been warning about it. Unlikely to happen as long as Harper is PM though.

[Lemmy]

sandorski sandorski:

Raising the GST would certainly close the gap significantly.

Wrong. It would widen the gap and send consumers running to the underground economy. And even if you were right, which you're not, the incidence of the tax change would fall squarely on the poorest people in the country. Is that the group whose backs you want to balance the budget on?

[Strutz]

Lemmy Lemmy:

Economists definitely would not say to raise the GST back to 7%. Raising the GST won't raise revenues. We're already at the peak of the Laffer curve. Too much of the federal budget is already funded on the backs of consumers. The solution is a blend of increasing taxes on the wealthy and cutting the scope of government. No one earning under $200K should have to pay ANY personal income tax. Combine that with modest tax increases on corporatations and we'd be swimming in cash.

I must say I really like the sound of this, especially the no personal income tax part . That much more money in everyone's pocket would do alot of good in cutting down personal debt and increasing consumer spending.

But is it feasible and would the powers that be ever even attempt to do it?

[stokes]

Strutz Strutz:

Lemmy Lemmy:

Economists definitely would not say to raise the GST back to 7%. Raising the GST won't raise revenues. We're already at the peak of the Laffer curve. Too much of the federal budget is already funded on the backs of consumers. The solution is a blend of increasing taxes on the wealthy and cutting the scope of government. No one earning under $200K should have to pay ANY personal income tax. Combine that with modest tax increases on corporatations and we'd be swimming in cash.

I must say I really like the sound of this, especially the no personal income tax part . That much more money in everyone's pocket would do alot of good in cutting down personal debt and increasing consumer spending.

But is it feasible and would the powers that be ever even attempt to do it?

I will say no chance in hell will any government raise the taxes on the rich for the benefit of the poor. As those in the top income levels would be able to find work else where and we would be right back where we started. The sad thing is that those with more money can afford to take advantage of programs such as rrsps and tfsas that those who are poor can and therefore pay less tax.

On another note, not everyone would use that extra money for not paying taxes to dig themselves out of the hole, in most cases they would go deeper. It takes a very disciplined person to actually follw through where money saving is concerned.