With capital-gains hike, Ottawa manipulates markets to score small, arbitrary goals - Globe and Mail
Many have opined that the proposed increase in the capital gains inclusion rate is bad tax, fiscal and economic policy. We need to add to that refrain: The implementation scheme amounts to market manipulation for insignificant and arbitrary fiscal goals through cynical pre-legislation enforcement.
In last week’s budget, Ottawa raised the taxable amount when selling capital assets such as stocks. For businesses, and for individuals beyond a threshold, two-thirds of capital gains would be taxed, up from half. The budget set June 25 as the effective date.
Why did the government set such a deadline?
One guess is that the government felt some guilt over this and offered a narrow window of escape.
But few points…
The global economy has become fragmented. Here’s how Canada can help repair it - Globe and Mail
The global economy has become fragmented, and an important cause has been the inability of international trade and finance governance institutions to adapt to changing realities. However, Canada has a unique opportunity to help repair today’s global trading system.
This year, the country is chairing the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership Commission. The CPTPP is a free-trade agreement between Canada and 10 other countries in the Indo-Pacific (Australia, Brunei, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam).
The commission’s role includes considering new applicants and setting the standards they must meet. As chair, Canada can help move the global economy back…
This week’s federal budget focuses on spending initiatives that, in the name of intergenerational fairness, it asks the wealthiest among us to pay for. A better way to finance new spending would be to arrest and reverse Canada’s growth and productivity challenges. Not only does the budget not do that, but its increase in the capital gains inclusion rate from 50 per cent to 66 per cent for corporations, trusts, and individuals on gains in excess of $250,000 a year is likely to make these challenges worse.
Some owners of small businesses who are active in their businesses will catch a break — just a 33 per cent inclusion rate up to a maximum of $2 million in lifetime capital gains — provided they don’t operate in the financial,…
