[Flash Walken]

Originally Posted by Fire

If the polled asked about a progressive tax where people who made over $100k paid more tax I bet you get a lot of support.

EDMONTON — Sixty per cent of Albertans surveyed by a University of Alberta think-tank support a return to a progressive tax system — meaning the more money you make, the more taxes you pay.

The Parkland Institute released a report Thursday that suggested a “progressive” income tax that taxes wealthy Albertans at a higher rate has “considerable support” from taxpayers.

“I think people are coming to understand that the wealth in this province is distributed in a drastically unequal manner and that’s a problem,” said Shannon Stunden Bower with the Parkland Institute.

“This is a problem not only for the 99% or the 90%, the people at the lower end of things, but also for those who are wealthy. There is strong data coming out indicating that income inequality hurts everybody.”

Alberta’s fiscal outlook has been gloomy in the months leading up to the provincial budget, to be released March 7, with a project deficit as high as $4 billion.

But the report says Albertans are prepared to adjust to higher taxes if it means a stronger financial footing.

Raising the Alberta corporate tax rate to 12%, up from the current 10%, would bring in another $840 million each year.

Adopting a progressive flat tax regime for personal income tax would bring in up to $13.6 billion in additional revenue for the province, notes the report.

The report also suggests the adoption of a sales tax would actually aggravate the problem of inequality even further.

“Our problem is over-reliance on volatile resource revenues rather than stable and predictable tax revenue,” Stunden Bower said.

“Inequality would be made even worse by the adoption of a sales tax or by maintaining the flat tax. Governments the world over have figured this out, but somehow Alberta has not.”

http://www.sunnewsnetwork.ca/sunnews...28-170900.html