Manning Manning
One of the Conservative movement’s greatest ‘ideas’ person is Preston Manning.
Now, this great Conservative has formed the Manning Centre for Building Democracy to promote Conservatism in Canada, and train future leaders.
Now you can sign up on the website at www.manningcentre.ca. In case you weren’t sure, here’s a snippet of what the Manning Center will accomplish in the years ahead:
Less emphasis on all that’s wrong, more emphasison what could be if we did things right – a positive Vision of a Better Canada governed by conservative principles – the necessary conservative democratic infrastructure required to win at least two out of three elections – and all this done on a scale commensurate with the size and scale of Canada itself.
Corporate Tax = Double Tax
Recently, the B.C. Government announced a “corporate tax” reduction from 13.5% to 12%.
Corporate “income tax” is a flawed form of double-taxation. If you have income tax on individuals, they should pay income tax on their dividends from corporations. If corporations also pay tax on their “income” before distributing it to shareholders, this is double-taxation of the same income. It has led to many tax system perversions like amending the taxation rates on the type of income people receive, depending on whether it was payroll, interest or dividends.
Right now Canadian corporations are tripping over each other in a race to convert to “Income Trusts” because corporate income tax is such a flawed concept.
Imagine how much simpler taxation would be if all personal income was taxed at the same rate, and corporate tax, capital taxes, sales/consumption taxes, inheritance taxes, and capital gains taxes were eliminated.
I know some people seem to like consumption taxes. I actually don’t disagree that a hotel tax or a restaurant tax is an OK form of consumption tax (and one which studies have shown is not a disincentive to tourism). However, as a business owner, and as somebody who sells things throughout the world on the Internet, I can tell you the GST is a huge burden and a competitive disadvantage for e-commerce, and specifically selling to U.S. customers online (like being in Canada and having higher shipping, customs and duties wasn’t enough of a disadvantage already).
Some might say … “but what if the shareholders of a corporation all lived in Mumbai, Kuala Lumpur, or somewhere more exotic — like Ontario.” Then having those corporations here wouldn’t give us any income at all, right? Wrong! The corporation will still employ people who live here, and all those people will pay income tax. More corpoations would move here, creating more jobs and more personal income tax for the Government.
So, reducing a backward form of double-taxation from 13.5% to 12% is still 12% too high. But at least it’s a step in the right direction.
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