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Originally Posted by CliffFletcher
The top 20 per cent of households in Canada (roughly $250k household income and up) pays 62 per cent of the country's income taxes. Raising their rates is politically unpopular because there's lots of voters who fall into range (I'd guess more than 30 per cent of the electorate), and many regard themselves as middle class.
Raise income taxes on the top 2 per cent won't generate much money for the simple fact there's a lot fewer people in that range.
DJones is right that sales and property taxes are reliable revenue generators for governments. The Nordic countries - the best real-world models egalitarian countries with robust public services - have 20-25 per cent VAT. And property taxes are a way to unlock the wealth of seniors who have seen their net worth increase substantially just because they bought their homes decades ago. That wealth would otherwise be passed down through inheritance, hardening intergenerational wealth inequality.
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The way that the property tax transfer is now, is upon inheritance. Most seniors live very humbly, and couldn't handle a yearly tax on property value. Changing that would be political suicide, unless health care kills all of the old people in time.
If someone making under 40K doesn't pay tax, but I pay 60K on my 300K take home, I would have to be a massive ###### to cry poor, and complain about me keeping the country afloat.
A progressive tax, coupled with a tax on foreign ownership is the way to go (to catch those fleeing to sunnier climes). Get rich on the backs of Canadians, pay into the Canadian social net. That's fair.