We need a government with GUTS to do something like this! Although (Pikettys) global wealth tax is a non-starter, other potential measures exist that would arouse less opposition while providing a source of new revenues – taxes on financial transactions. Such taxes have the virtue of being so small as to be almost painless and yet able to raise vast sums. About 40 countries, not including Canada, already use such taxes. In 2011, Bill Gates, the world’s richest man, asked the G20 member states to impose a tax of one-10th of a percentage point on sales of equities and one-50th of a percentage point on transactions involving bonds. These minuscule taxes would have raised $48-billion (U.S.) a year to help poor countries pull millions of their citizens out of poverty. Mr. Gates’s proposal was defeated, with Canada among its opponents. Another unplumbed revenue source is foreign exchange. About $12-trillion is moved into and out of Canadian currency every year. A tax similar to those proposed by Mr. Gates, of a small fraction of 1 per cent, split between buyer and seller, would raise enough money fairly quickly to wipe out all government debt in Canada. TIME FOR CHANGE!
Posted on: Sat, 03 Jan 2015 21:04:26 +0000
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