The new TFSA maximum is going to help me out an insane amount over the next 5 or so years so I am happy for that
Apparently selling shares in GM to use the money elsewhere is sleight of hand. Short sighted maybe, as this country really didn't need a balanced budget, but there is nothing shady about it. Of course the conservatives are going to be short sighted this close to an election
Yeah, I'm not overly surprised by the budget. It's extremely election-friendly and politics as usual.
As a young, able bodied, healthy, single adult with no kids, the budget did absolutely nothing for me.
All I wanted was the leaked adult fitness tax credit to go through. $75 was all it took to buy my vote. But nope. Kids and seniors. Let's spend billions of dollars on income splitting and RRIF changes and disability retrofits and other garbage.
I hate the fact that seniors are one of the most well off segments of society and yet we continue to spend billions upon billions of dollars on them just because they're an almost invincibly powerful political demographic.
I guess it's my generation's fault that we don't vote as much as old and married people.
Yeah apparently the message from yesterdays budget was the have kids if you want any sort of tax break. And yeah old people will always get pandered to because they are worth being scared of, they actually vote. If young people voted at the level (or ideally higher levels) than old people did, then they'd have to pander more to younger people.
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"Think I'm gonna be the scapegoat for the whole damn machine? Sheeee......."
Yeah apparently the message from yesterdays budget was the have kids if you want any sort of tax break. And yeah old people will always get pandered to because they are worth being scared of, they actually vote. If young people voted at the level (or ideally higher levels) than old people did, then they'd have to pander more to younger people.
Not True.
more old people than young people and the 'old' category is now growing instead of shrinking.
This isn't really much better to be honest. It's just as short-sighted and individualistic.
Ehhh. If we're doing some social engineering anyways, I'd rather have a crappy cheap policy that helps everyone than a crappy expensive policy that only helps people with kids or only helps people that are 71 or older with millions of dollars in their RRSP.
^ what about the TFSA? I loathe the CPC, but I can admit that's a fantastic policy. Way more useful than some measly tax credits.
I generally favour abolition of tax credits though. Just cut taxes and quit making me save receipts already. It's dumb, and just lazy policy IMO.
I agree. I don't like the cost of the TFSA, but I also view the TFSA as a policy for old people - a previous article, and our discussion in the other thread, showed that 71% of the people that max their TFSA is 55 or older. I would bet that less than 5% are 30 and under (if that)
My TFSA is currently maxed so I'm one of the lucky few, but I don't see it as a policy targeted at my demographic at all.
I also agree with your stance on tax credits. However, I am just advocating for it since it's more of a "playing the game" type deal - we're not going to overhaul how politicians act, so might as well get something out of it. Cynical view for sure, but I think it's more realistic. I HATE the social engineering and incentivizing that tax credits do - and they are generally bad policy.
The Liberal Party of Canada would lower taxes on middle-income earners, raise taxes on wealthy Canadians, and introduce a new benefit for parents, as part of a plan to woo middle-class voters in the next election.
The Liberal plan would raise taxes on those earning more than $200,000 a year, while lowering the tax rate for income in the $44,700 to $89,400 range. The proposal would also create a “Canada Child Benefit" worth up to $533 a month per child. The money would be provided in monthly cheques and be tax-free.
From the Alberta election thread, re: NDP protest vote success having federal consequences in Edmonton:
Quote:
Originally Posted by rubecube
Probably should be put in the federal thread but I'm not so sure on this one. I have friends pretty much all over the spectrum, but my NDP ones who were originally strongly considering voting for Trudeau have pretty much completely abandoned him and shifted back to Mulcair. Hell, even my mom who's voted Liberal her entire life, except for a few Green protest votes, has pretty much given up on him. His performance so far this calendar year has been abysmal.
If this is true on a wider scale, then I would say we are almost assured of the PCs being re-elected federally, potentially with another majority. Much as how vote splitting appears it will benefit the NDP today, the same would work in the Conservatives favour in the fall.
From the Alberta election thread, re: NDP protest vote success having federal consequences in Edmonton:
If this is true on a wider scale, then I would say we are almost assured of the PCs being re-elected federally, potentially with another majority. Much as how vote splitting appears it will benefit the NDP today, the same would work in the Conservatives favour in the fall.
But we all know there are big voting differences between Calgary (assuming thats where Rube is) and Ontario. I still think it will be a minority gov't, just not sure which way. Trudeau has been anything but inspiring and people are getting fed up with Harper and his team of idealogues. If AB does vote NDP today then it will most certainly be an eye-opener for the fed election.
And yes, there is a big voting difference between Alberta (federally) and the rest of the country. But as much as leftist idealogues are tired of Harper's rightist idealogues, the fact remains that the vote split federally will exist on the left. In Quebec, it could be made worse by the Bloc. That plays to the Conservative's favour. Perhaps not enough to get that majority, but it won't help either Trudeau or Mulcair.
Last edited by Resolute 14; 05-05-2015 at 08:58 AM.
And yes, there is a big voting difference between Alberta (federally) and the rest of the country. But as much as leftist idealogues are tired of Harper's rightist idealogues, the fact remains that the vote split federally will exist on the left. In Quebec, it could be made worse by the Bloc. That plays to the Conservative's favour. Perhaps not enough to get that majority, but it won't help either Trudeau or Mulcair.
I actually think BC is going to be a pretty massive battleground. I still think the election gets decided in Quebec, but there are six new seats in B.C., where the Conservatives won 21 of them last time. I think the Greens grab a couple more on the Island, but I would be shocked if the Conservatives retained a lot of seats. There's a tonne of anger at Harper over the pipeline, and the mainland is furious about the coast guard budget being cut, resulting in a longer response time to the recent oil spill. The only question is whether those lost seats go to the Liberals or the NDP.
Also, this is why I think it was such a dumb political move for Trudeau to come out and say he wouldn't form a coalition. It all but guarantees the safety of many of the NDP incumbents, and in any place where it's close and people want to punish the Conservatives, he could lose out to strategic votes.
I think the Bloc will be a non-factor in Quebec, just like last time. They're polling even worse this time.
The Following User Says Thank You to rubecube For This Useful Post:
Is there something in these parties internals that says they need to keep coming up with ways to pander to families with tax credits? The next party to come up with a bunch of tax credits for single people is getting my vote.
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"Think I'm gonna be the scapegoat for the whole damn machine? Sheeee......."
Is there something in these parties internals that says they need to keep coming up with ways to pander to families with tax credits? The next party to come up with a bunch of tax credits for single people is getting my vote.
Gotta give the NDP a bit of credit, at least they try to pander to the youth vote through tuition reduction and whatnot.
AP pulled that one out too - tuition increases capped at the rate of inflation.
__________________ "The great promise of the Internet was that more information would automatically yield better decisions. The great disappointment is that more information actually yields more possibilities to confirm what you already believed anyway." - Brian Eno
But we all know there are big voting differences between Calgary (assuming thats where Rube is) and Ontario. I still think it will be a minority gov't, just not sure which way. Trudeau has been anything but inspiring and people are getting fed up with Harper and his team of idealogues. If AB does vote NDP today then it will most certainly be an eye-opener for the fed election.
People? what "people" are these, you mean students? Harper has always been very pragmatic. The NDP vote in Alberta is not ideological, polls(not "people") show that its simply a desire to get rid of a 40 year old regime.
