A Fairer Taxation Method

The current taxation system used in Canada is unfair and a huge administrative nightmare. Is there a solution to this? Not a system that would keep everyone happy, no. However I believe I have a system that might be better then what we have at least.

Income Tax

Income tax is massively unfair and requires a team of accountants to do the more complex returns. Why not eliminate it? Income tax makes no real sense, an entirely sales tax based system makes more sense. Don’t get me wrong, employers should still have to pay a tax based on how much they pay employees, but that would be a more services tax since they are paying for a service from their employees.

Sales Tax

I admit with my method some of the complexity that was within the Income tax portion of taxation gets moved over to sales tax, but in our modern age this should not really be a big deal. Naturally with the elimination of Income Tax Sales Tax would increase substantially. However not everything would be taxed equally. A tier based tax would be instituted based on how essential the item was. For example on food their would be two taxation rates, one for essential foods like bread, meat, milk, fruits, and vegetables, and another higher rate for junk foods. This would serve a dual purpose, with healthy food having considerably less tax on it then junk food the consumption of healthy food should increase reducing the over all obesity of Canada, with a low enough rate on the essentials it would keep tax rates low for low income families. For other items there would also be varying rates depending on how essential it is with things like gas guzzling SUV’s, cigarettes, liquor, and marijuana, having the highest sales tax rate while things like clothing, and shelter, having the lowest tax rates.

Gambling

Gambling is a hot topic in the US, if not here in Canada, with the US getting tougher on online gambling. Here in Ontario charity casinos are going up in every town with more then 12 people it seems. Is this a good thing for Canada’s citizens? It depends on who you talk to, some say yes it is bringing tourists, others say no it encourages gambling addiction.

Does having casinos encourage gambling addicts, of course it does, just as having bars encourages alcoholics. Does this mean that we should ban casinos? No, no more then we should ban bars. Now I know that gambling addicts sometimes hurt their family due to the addiction, but it is no different then any other addiction. Gambling addiction is a serious thing, and should be dealt with, but why stop non-addicts from enjoying some time at a casino just because of a few bad apples.

Casinos can be beneficial. There can be no argument that they turn a profit, that they put money into the economy, and that the charity ones raise money for charities. As for gambling addicts, well obviously something must be done, the best way is to educate and rehabilitate. One possible means of minimize gambling addiction is to ensure that there are no bank machines in Casinos and ensure that gamblers do not spend more then what they intended to upon entering a Casino.