And you wonder why we can't aford it?

[Argus]

Maybe if government wasn't wasting money on crap it would be able to devote more to health care without raising taxes through the ceiling.

For example, if you wanted, you could buy an MRI scanner to help ease the staggeringly long waits for treatment and diagnoses, or, you could contribute millions of dollars to a show featuring moss on statues.

How your tax dollars are spent

[err]

Paul Martin, as finance minister was a true Conservative. He is responsible for the biggest tax breaks for large business... even bigger than Brian Mulroney....

How about leaving our tax rates for business on par with what they are in the states, and rather than giving them so many additional tax breaks, spend it on health care, education, etc..... The kinds of things that benefit Canadians, rather than companies... especially foriegn ones....

[fracan]

I could argue that businesses shouldn't be taxed at all. Profits from business are paid out to the owners in dividends, which are then taxed in the hands of individuals.

What left-wingers don't get is that businesses aren't the enemy - they create wealth, they create jobs. Another thing I don't get is how big business is somehow the enemy, while small and medium businesses are the darlings of our system. Do you know what small and medium businesses are striving to become? Big businesses! That means they've been successful!

We have capitalism and the pursuit of profit to thank for our high living standards and general level of wealth. It's not wrong to want to get rich, because you'll have to help others out along the way. You can't get rich on your own.

[cybercoma]

Maybe if government wasn't wasting money on crap it would be able to devote more to health care without raising taxes through the ceiling.

For example, if you wanted, you could buy an MRI scanner to help ease the staggeringly long waits for treatment and diagnoses, or, you could contribute millions of dollars to a show featuring moss on statues.

How your tax dollars are spent

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Come on now Argus, don't you think all that money they take from you is best spent on babysitting and streetsweeping?

[Pateris]

Paul Martin, as finance minister was a true Conservative.  He is responsible for the biggest tax breaks for large business... even bigger than Brian Mulroney....

How about leaving our tax rates for business on par with what they are in the states, and rather than giving them so many additional tax breaks, spend it on health care, education, etc..... The kinds of things that benefit Canadians, rather than companies... especially foriegn ones....

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Comparing Canadian and US tax rates is misleading, because deductions are different, writedowns for capital investment differ, tax on foreign income, etc. And we have lower corporate taxes because we are trying to ATTRACT more businesses. Like Ireland did when it lowered it's taxes below the EU average.

Business creates jobs. Government doesn't.

Business creates wealth. Governments just move it around.

[Argus]

I could argue that businesses shouldn't be taxed at all.  Profits from business are paid out to the owners in dividends, which are then taxed in the hands of individuals.

Or not. We need a minimum tax for the rich, and a closing of the loopholes which allow companies - like Paul Martin's, to set up post boxes in offshore tax havens and thus pay little or no taxes on their operations here.

What left-wingers don't get is that businesses aren't the enemy - they create wealth, they create jobs.

Yes, in most cases. Not all.

Another thing I don't get is how big business is somehow the enemy, while small and medium businesses are the darlings of our system.

Perhaps because small businesses are more likely to be run by individuals who have a direct care in their business, and some care in their workers. Big business has a tendency to be run by aloof boards of directors and parachuted presidents who are interested only in their stock options and who don't mind doing things like transferring all the jobs to third world countries if it increases their bottom line by a fraction of a percent.