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.
I agree with you that taxes are not going to go away and that they do provide us many benefits for the future. I believe that the medical benefits an educational benefits end up helping us when we need it most. Also, I think progressive tax is much better than regressive tax, in that progressive tax increase as the income does, but I think flat tax would be better because then everyone would pay the same percentage for tax. Overall, good job on your topic. The connections made were very clear and concise.
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion, I think that the harmonized sales tax is ridiculous because the money goes to big businesses and corporations instead of going to underfunded social services. I agree with what you have said about the benefits that we, as Canadians have. My concern is that the taxes collected from the HST will not be coming back to us, citizens for awhile. It would be best if we had a progressive tax instead of a regressive tax. This would be much fairer to people with low incomes.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you. It is very unfortunate and unfair that the HST is not collected and used upon services such as health care and education. It is also very unfair to the people who generate a lower income and possibly have a big family to feed. I have to admit that HST does affect us negatively in some degree. This can be seen clearly at restaurants because before the tax was imposed, a lot of people choose to eat outside. Now, with this tax, they are generally more hesitant because food is a lot more expensive nowadays. I do however believe that one day we would be benefited by taxes. It will all come back, but before then, we would have to bear with what we have now.
ReplyDeleteThe fact that the HST tax does not benefit health care, education and other underfunded social services but to large coorporations instead is angering to many. This will greatly affect people with low income as prices of goods and services will increase. The benefits from HST will not help the average person until it trickles down and that will not be in the near future. I feel using a progressive tax would have been a better option because it would provide more equality and I think that is whats most important.
ReplyDelete-Albert Liu