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Politics : Canadian Political Free-for-All -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Stephen O who wrote (2667)	5/26/2003 10:47:40 AM
From: DeplorableIrredeemableRedneck	Respond to of 37263

Outstanding.

To: Stephen O who wrote (2667)	5/27/2003 8:55:04 AM
From: DeplorableIrredeemableRedneck	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 37263

High taxes the key to Canada's surplus: report Fiscal prowess said no better than U.S. By SIMON TUCK From Monday's Globe and Mail Ottawa — Canada's superior fiscal position to the United States in recent years is a function of higher taxes, a report says, not a stronger economy or superior financial management.The report, to be released today by Global Insight (Canada) Ltd., says Ottawa and its provincial counterparts wouldn't boast surpluses and other fiscal accomplishments if taxes were at U.S. levels. ''If Canada reduced its tax burden to be as low as as the U.S.'s, then we would be running larger deficits than they are. If the U.S. had a tax burden as high as ours, they would be running larger surpluses than we are.'' The report says Canadian taxes -- paid to all levels of government -- are almost eight percentage points higher than those in the United States, one percentage point less than in 2000. The report, prepared by Dale Orr, an economist and a managing director at Global Insight, also states that Canadian taxes are higher than those in the United States largely because the federal and provincial governments must carry higher debt charges. That is "because we built up so much debt in the mid-1980s-to-mid-1990s period." But Peter Dungan, an economist at the University of Toronto's Institute for Policy Analysis, said comparisons between U.S. and Canadian tax levels are more complicated than that because the governments in the two countries provide different services. He said Canadian taxes provide a national health care system for each citizen and contribute enough money to maintain a reasonably funded social security system, while U.S. taxes don't do either. Despite recent tax cuts in Canada, the gap between the two countries' tax regimes could grow in the coming years as U.S. taxpayers are handed further cuts. U.S. President George W. Bush won a major political battle Friday by a slim margin as Congress approved the third tax cut of his presidency. The $330-billion (U.S.) package, which won a 51-50 vote after Vice-President Dick Cheney's ballot broke a tie, includes a range of rebates and lower tax rates for families, and new breaks for businesses and investors. Republicans said it would stimulate economic growth and create jobs, while Democrats dismissed it as a boon for the rich. The Department of Finance says Canada led Group of Seven industrialized countries in growth in 2002, and is expected to repeat that feat this year. Canada is also the only G7 nation to post five consecutive federal budget surpluses through 2001-02, and is expected to do so this year and next.