Torys in charge of Finance = Bad Move

Finance Minister Jim Flaherty, whose upcoming budget will lower the GST, has been told by his department that Canada is already out of step with many peers because it relies relatively little on consumption taxes, and heavily on income taxes, to raise money.

Canada raises more of its revenue as a share of [gross domestic product] from personal and corporate income taxes than any other G7 country, Finance Department officials say in briefing books prepared for Mr. Flaherty and obtained under access to information law. Correspondingly, Canada raises relatively less tax revenue from consumption taxes, the tax that least damages productivity and standard of living.

Officials tell Mr. Flaherty that while Canada's "personal and corporate income tax burdens are the highest among the G7 countries, the broader trend favours consumption taxes. In recent years, the tax burden has been moving toward consumption taxes (away from income taxes) in a number of OECD countries".

We knew these cowboys were policy idiots.