November 17, 2011

If you are in the top one per cent, you might be feeling a bit alienated these days with all those Occupy protests. It can be uncomfortable when you and your money are targeted by the ninety-nine percent. I have a way in which you can redeem yourself.

And if you are in the top one-tenth of one per cent you might feel even more beleaguered. You belong to that exclusive club of 25,000 Canadians who have an average annual income of $1.5 million. Those piles of cold cash don't provide much warmth, do they?

You can do the right thing; even if you made spectacular gains at the expense of your fellow Canadians. While you doubled your share of the national pie, the rest of us saw earnings remain stagnant or even fall due to inflation. While we were going through the Great Recession of 2009, your pals in the richest four per cent captured a stunning two-thirds of Canada's wealth.

You like to say it was because of hard work and that might be true to an extent. But if it were the only factor, why aren't other hard-working Canadians rich? No, there is more to it than hard work. Free trade, deregulation and privatization and dubious derivative investments have tilted the balance.

Your rallying cry of lower taxes has been heard by governments and the effect has been profound. While everyone is paying lower taxes, yours has been lowered by an astonishing amount. For comparison, think back to the time when your parents worked to build an egalitarian society.

Back in those days of nation-building days, Canada had a tax system that was amongst the most progressive in the world. In 1949, there were 17 tax brackets ranging from 15 to 84 percent. Now, in 2009 there are four federal brackets ranging from 22 to 29 per cent and rich British Columbians actually pay taxes at a lower rate than the poor. Does that seem fair, Mr. and Mrs. One Per Cent?

The demand for lower taxes has depleted the federal treasury by a staggering $420 billion. That money could go a long way to relieve the suffering of the ninety-nine percent. In fact, eighty per cent of Canadians would be better off if the federal government hadn't cut the GST.

Contrary to the story we have been told, taxes are good value and not the waste of money. A report from the Canadian Centre of Policy Alternative shows that ordinary Canadians enjoy extraordinary benefits from taxes. Middle-income Canadian families receive public services worth about $41,000 - - or 63% of their income. The study also shows 80% of Canadians would be better off if the federal government hadn't cut the GST.

While you can get the best health care that money can buy, I know that you care about the welfare of all Canadians and that you want to make things right.

Come out of your gated communities and from behind your tax shelters and join your fellow citizens in rebuilding a just society. It will take more than money. Take your kids out of private schools. Add your voices to improve public education. Refuse to pay for health care and insist on the best care for all.

The Occupy protesters are shattering myths and laying bare the pipeline that pumps wealth from the poor and middle class to the rich. It's dawning on the rest of us that criticism of taxes and government is all a mug's game that benefits the rich and deprives the rest of us of services.

David Charbonneau is the owner of Trio Technical.
He can be reached at dcharbonneau13@shaw.ca