CANADA: Tax Cuts, Privatization and Deregulation: Is it a Debt Crisis or a Distribution of Wealth Crisis?by Paul Kahnert and Sam Gindin
Global Research, January 20, 2012
Where are we going as a society? We once proudly invested in our schools, pools, libraries, daycare, healthcare, roads, electricity, water and sewers. Today we're busy slashing social services and letting our infrastructure crumble. With new technologies in place, families are working longer hours and harder and our resources are demanded all over the world. Yet all we hear about is deficits and austerity measures.
“Occupy” helped bring attention to the top 1 per cent. There is more wealth now than there has ever been. Today our per capita GDP is 50 per cent higher, even after adjusting for inflation, than it was at the start of the 1980s. Where has all the money gone? Over the last 30 years, structures have been put in place to transfer wealth to the wealthy. We're told these structures are in the public interest. ‘Tax cuts will lead to more investment and jobs’ and ‘all boats will be lifted by the rising tide.’ Only the luxury liners are rising and everyone else is sinking in their wake.
While everyone else's wages have stagnated over the last 30 years the top 1 per cent have seen their pay and wealth increase dramatically but didn't like paying all those extra taxes. Governments have been all too happy to accommodate them. In 1980, the top federal tax rate was almost 50 per cent higher than it is today.
In terms of fiscal deficits, according to the latest figures the combined federal and provincial shortfalls are running at about $65-billion annually. To put this in perspective, since 1980 the top 1 per cent has increased its share of the national income from 8.1% to 13.3%. A shift of $67-billion. If taxes had kept their at the 1980 level, there would be no deficit nationally.
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