HomeMy WebLinkAboutHuron Expositor, 2015-09-30, Page 5Wednesday, September 30, 2015 • Huron Expositor 5
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letter to the editor
The election is soon
Dear editor,
As we plan to vote on
October 19, let us consider
how we are going to vote in
order to support the many in
our society who are less well
off. Author and scholar Guy
Standing has classified peo-
ple into several groups of
differing economic privi-
lege. According to Standing,
on the top of the list of the
economically privileged is
the ever-increasing group of
billionaires. Close to the
bottom of the pile is a rap-
idly expanding group of
working individuals whom
he describes as the "precar-
iat." This demographic is
aptly named the precariat,
since these people lead pre-
carious and uncertain lives,
in many cases for reasons
largely out of their control.
Let us not deny that a
significant percentage of
Canadians in low-paying
service jobs lead precarious
lives, despite full-time
employment.
I now quote from the writ-
ings of Standing, "Many are
experiencing a precarious
existence in temporary jobs,
doing short -time labour,
most without any assurance
of state benefits or the perks
being received by the sala-
riat or core" (note, Standing
defines the salariat as the
group situated just below
the billionaires). "In the pro-
cess of the deindustrialisa-
tion of employment, we
have seen a growth of many
forms of income inequality,
a shift of income from
labour to capital and loss of
social entitlements by
median and lower-income
earners." Should voters
allow the wisdom of Stand-
ing to influence how they
cast their votes?
Firstly, let us review a
selection of the tax policies
of Mr. Harper. Several econ-
omists have reviewed the tax
reliefs given to couples by
Harper's recent legislation
that allows income splitting
and have also reviewed his
pre- election, universal
mailing of child benefit
cheques. Incidentally, for
many families most of the
value of these child benefit
cheques will have to be
returned to federal coffers at
the time of completing their
2015 income tax return!
Hence, this almost revenue -
neutral tax break for families
is another psychological,
pre-election ploy to garner
votes rather than a signifi-
cant tax break for families.
Secondly, many econo-
mists have concluded that
income splitting by couples
for tax purposes is most
helpful to those families
who have much higher
incomes than those lower
income Canadian families
who need relief from taxes
the most. Again, this looks
like vote -gathering
legislation.
Thirdly, Harper's gift to
high income earners, by
almost doubling of the
allowable contributions to
TSFA's, is of great concern to
the majority of Canadians
who simply do not have
$10,000/year to invest.
Harper's drastic, one-step
increase of the allowed
annual TSFA contribution
from $5,500/annum to $
10,000/annum is nothing
more than a pre-election
attempt to attract more
votes from the relatively
wealthy. It is a gift to those
Canadians who need it the
least. Reflect for a moment
on how many Canadians
you know personally have
an annual surplus of cash to
stash away at year end to the
extent of $10,000/year. Per-
haps of greater concern to
discerning readers is the
outcome of this action in
terms of lost revenue to the
federal government and the
provincial governments in
the future.
On February 25, Rob Car-
rick, senior financial column-
ist with the Globe and Mail,
reported on the conse-
quences of such a decision
going forward. Carrick noted
that the Parliamentary Budget
Officer calculated that back in
2013 TSFA's cost the
government $410 million in
lost revenue. The PBO'S pro-
jections for the year 2060 are
that under the new rules,
TSFA's will cost the federal
government $14.7 billion and
the provincial governments
$7.6 billion! Minister of
Finance Joe Oliver's flippant
and inappropriate response
to the high costs of TSFA's in
the future was that it would be
up to grandchildren to deal
with the consequences! Oli-
ver must have the same
speech writer as Stephen
Harper who committed to
have Canada weaned off fos-
sil fuels by the year 2000. Vot-
ers will continue to question
the wisdom, integrity and the
vision of Harper until October
19, when Canadians will give
him their feedback.
Yours sincerely, Jim Holling-
worth, M.D., Goderich, Ontario.
Express_ PeeWee baseball team wins the Ontario Baseball Associatio
0991 ma imp
Championship -on September 6
Sheldon Pryce is from Seaforth and Jackson McLlwain and Braden McNaughton have grandparents who live in Seaforth. The names of the players and coaches in the team picture are as follows:
Back Left -Right: Jack Robinson, Jared Orr, Brett Reid (coach), Dave Reid (coach), Darren Kints (coach), Andy Orr (coach). Middle Row L-R:Jackson McLlwain,Mitch Rowecliffe,Jarrett Vink,Sheldon
Pryce, Dylan Kints,Alex Vince. Front Row L -R: Philip Norris,Nick Bedard, Braeden McNaughton, Zach Haines.