source: http://www.vancouversun.com/news/progressive/3834122/story.html
Summary:
On November 16th, 2010, author Jean R. Macintyre reported on how Harmonized Sales Tax (HST) is hated not only because of the fact that it's one of the taxes required for citizens to pay but as well as the way it was introduced, who is paying it, and who is benefiting. The B.C. government brought in the HST even though they already said they wouldn't which caused a lot of controversy. Especially after citizens found out the money collected is not going to health care, education, any of the underfunded social services, but to big business corporations. The benefits were told to be eventually trickled down to us however people have been waiting for that from other taxes for the last two or three decades. HST is hated because it is a regressive tax not progressive.
Connection:
People may have different opinions on which taxing method would be more fair and equal depending on their own beneficial terms. The two types of taxes mentioned in the article were progressive tax and regressive tax. If the percentage of income paid in taxes rises along with income, it is referred to as a progressive tax. If the percentage paid in taxes declines as income increases, it is called a regressive tax. Usually people would agree that progressive tax is a more fair method because people pay equal sacrifices. A regressive tax does not necessarily mean that low-income people pay more taxes; they just pay a higher percentage of their income. Ex: $50,000 salary, compared to $10,000; 10% of $50,000 is $5000, and 20% of $10,000 is $2000. The lower income person is still paying a smaller amount, but the proportion of his/her income is bigger.
Reflection:
Being a Canadian citizen, I understand that taxes have always been a part of our lives. Even though I have never really supported the idea of taxes because it does make the purchase of a product a lot more expensive than it would have been without taxes. There are many more benefits that come along with them. Canadian governments are a lot more involved in its citizens lives compared to the U.S. We have health care, educational benefits, etc. The taxes we pay do eventually come back to us in the long run. Although i do strongly believe that the method of regressive tax should never be used because it would be unfair to those who have a lower income and already having trouble to make ends meet.
