Quote:
Originally Posted by DJones
Ya I don't want to get taxed as much as them, I just like their funding model. Consumption taxes being the foundation rather than a side tax. I'd use that tax revenue to cut income taxes. They just tax everything
Norway doesn't have royalties, they just charge more corporate taxes
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OK, but the difference in consumption taxes relative to overall tax revenue between Canada and somewhere like Norway is basically nothing. 21.9% of Canada's tax revenue is through VATs and consumption taxes vs. 23.0% in Norway; raising GST back up to 6% would basically equalize things.
Yeah, other European countries have higher consumption tax rates leading to more revenue, many into the 27-30% range of total revenue. But it's not like it's the foundation of their tax revenue. If you removed all consumption taxes from places like Denmark, Finland, or Sweden while keeping 100% of Canada's current consumption taxes, the tax-to-GDP ratio in those countries would still be within a few percentage points of Canada's. They have higher consumption taxes primarily because all of their taxes are higher.
And obviously, Canada being next to the US means we have to be cognizant of aligning things to some degree. The US has the lowest consumption taxes in the OECD, so if we strayed from that too far it could be counterproductive.