Metroblog

But I digress ...

08 May 2008

Mr. Dion Has an Idea!

Wow--Dion has a plan. Who knew?

He'd lost my vote entirely until now, mostly for his uncompromising stand on the New! Conservative Government of Canada (TM)' s feel-good legislation and Reform immigration policies (or is that immigration Reform policies?). Said stand consisting mostly of bending over and yelling "Thank you Mr. Harper! May I have another?!"

Finally he's showing some guts.

Briefly, he'd cut income taxes (yay!) while jiggering an already-existing federal tax across fuels (including home heating fuels--a critical and possibly election-blowing issue in a country whose average winter temperature is "brrr"). From the article:
The Mintz model would shift the federal fuel excise tax to a broad-based carbon tax, which would raise about $17-billion.

“It's a lot of money and you can cut corporate and personal taxes about 8 to 10 per cent,” Prof. Mintz said.
So fuel taxes won't go up, but income taxes will drop? Hell yeah! This is exactly what I've been crying for for ages, as my Avid Fans (both) know only all too well. Heck, it's almost like Dion's been reading my blog

...

Saaaay ... Have I ever mentioned my proposal for free beer and massages from the Maxim girls for all taxpayers?

If he clarifies what the tax dollars will actually be used for, and follows through, I'll back him on this.

And so should conservative economists. After all, if you want to curb bad habits with market forces, then a consumption tax is the way to go, right? And if you want to improve people's lives, you drop their income taxes, thus giving them more money to spend in the first place.

Of course Mr. Harper's a conservative economist, in theory. So he would know that ... Of course that'd raise the question of why he cut the GST, thus encouraging Canadians to spend, rather than income taxes where it would have benefited all.

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