Taxing the über-rich would reduce the deficit and social resentment

[CHIMO]

Why not raise taxes? Instead of belittling TD Bank CEO Ed Clark for suggesting that he and many of his colleagues would be in favour of having their taxes raised, perhaps we should take them seriously. Perhaps even more seriously than they intend.

Our debate about taxation has focused on one form of taxation – sales taxes – and what should be appropriate GST/HST levels. Most of the criticism of the Harper government's tax policy revolves around its having cut the GST to 5 per cent from 7 per cent. It seems to be conventional wisdom among tax experts and taxation enthusiasts that at least a 40-per-cent increase in the GST, back to 7 per cent, would generate the revenue to fight deficits and maintain social spending.

It's seldom mentioned in these circles that the GST, being a consumption tax, is fairly regressive. Despite a few compensatory loopholes, the GST affects most people about equally. The poor pay a much greater portion of their income in sales taxes than the rich. Sales taxes also act as a break on consumption – which is why, in slow economic times, they are often cut to try to stimulate spending. It's almost certain that, if the Harper government had not cut the GST before the current recession, all our experts would have called on it to do so as a stimulus measure.

The coming of the GST was welcomed by many tax experts mainly because it replaced an extremely cumbersome manufacturers' sales tax. Today, though, the tax choice is between sales and income taxes. We tax personal incomes at progressive rates, meaning that the wealthier pay much, much more than the poor. Millions of Canadians pay no income tax at all.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/opinions/taxing-the-ber-rich-would-reduce-the-deficit-and-social-resentment/article1470102/

Seems to me like the way to go. Sorta like "Bring back that old time religion" type of thing. Everyone on the Conservative side should be in for it.