The Liberals’ proposed capital gains tax, introduced Monday, is class warfare pure and simple, the politics of envy with all the deception that goes with it. Here’s the deal: give us your money or look out for people jumping the wall of your gated community.Thus, Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland on Monday. She was warning those who live “in gated communities behind ever-higher fences, using private healthcare and airplanes because the public sphere is so degraded and the wrath of the vast majority of their less privileged compatriots burns so hot…”She didn’t conclude with a specific threat but you get the picture. Those with the stomach for her Grade One school-marm style, can watch it here.They might even ask whether — some people being as suggestible as they are — it was an altogether wise thing to imagine out loud? Shades of the prime minister’s comment that burning churches ‘was understandable.’Eat the rich, then?Freeland wasn’t so specific but the meaning was clear, people might go on the rampage you know, if they can’t get free stuff from the government. So, somebody has to pay for it. But not to worry, only a tiny, tiny number of people would be asked to pay more, like just Canada’s 0.13 per cent, really most people aren’t going to be touched by this, they’ll hardly notice it. But once this is done, the sun will shine again and young people will be able to buy houses and girls wouldn’t get pregnant because they’d be able to afford birth control. (She actually said that. Listen to the clip.)And so on. That’s the class warfare part of it, all envy and demand. Every sad and single thing she speaks of in the clip from the unaffordability of houses and healthcare that's been pushed past the limit by out-of-control immigration, is actually a consequence of nine years of Liberal overspending. It's spending too much money in an attempt to buy votes, financed by borrowing, and the inevitable inflation that follows a gang of people who don’t think about monetary policy, making major financial decisions that affect us all.But, she would also have you believe that it’s only Canada’s top 0.13 percent of household incomes that are going to be asked to pay for their mistakes. It would be impolite to ask why the property rights of rich people are less important than those of other people, so let’s just acknowledge that’s the way the left talks and has always talked.The thing is, it’s not so. For one thing, Canada's rich aren't rich enough to pay for what the Trudeau Liberals have done to this country.But the threshold beyond which the capital gains tax applies has been set so low — $250,000 — that it embraces small business people, farmers, doctors and every other member of the middle class who has worked hard and made prudent decisions. Context: As things stand, capital gains are added to taxable income at the rate of half what the seller profits. This portion is known as ‘the inclusion rate.’ Thus, you sell a piece of land and make $100,000 on it, you pay tax on $50,000. Under the changes Freeland announced Monday, that 50% becomes 67%; in the example, the seller would pay tax on $67,000. The wording suggests that it applies to corporations and trusts, but of course most small businesses are corporation and trusts, even your family doctor.So, you don’t have to be a bloated plutocrat to be robbed by the Liberals on Capital Gains Tax. You just need to be a farmer, trying to retire. Or a doctor selling a practice, or a small business entrepreneur or anybody selling the fruits of a lifetime of hard work.And will the bloated plutocrats pay more? Not if their accountants are on the ball. They have two months to sell out, to take advantage of the new rules not applying immediately. So of course do small business people, but smaller enterprises seldom have the same flexibility as the truly rich.It’s ironic. Mr. Trudeau fought the 2015 election as a champion of the middle class. But look what’s happened to Canada’s middle class since — taxes are, inflation is roaring, people are losing their homes because of high interest rates, and food bank use has never been higher. And if you listen to Ms. Freeland, teenage girls are getting pregnant because they can’t afford birth control.She says this is the 'defining measure of this parliamentary session.' No, the defining measure is this: "Are you better off today after nine years of Trudeau/Freeland inspired economic policy?"And that's what we'll be voting on.
The Liberals’ proposed capital gains tax, introduced Monday, is class warfare pure and simple, the politics of envy with all the deception that goes with it. Here’s the deal: give us your money or look out for people jumping the wall of your gated community.Thus, Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland on Monday. She was warning those who live “in gated communities behind ever-higher fences, using private healthcare and airplanes because the public sphere is so degraded and the wrath of the vast majority of their less privileged compatriots burns so hot…”She didn’t conclude with a specific threat but you get the picture. Those with the stomach for her Grade One school-marm style, can watch it here.They might even ask whether — some people being as suggestible as they are — it was an altogether wise thing to imagine out loud? Shades of the prime minister’s comment that burning churches ‘was understandable.’Eat the rich, then?Freeland wasn’t so specific but the meaning was clear, people might go on the rampage you know, if they can’t get free stuff from the government. So, somebody has to pay for it. But not to worry, only a tiny, tiny number of people would be asked to pay more, like just Canada’s 0.13 per cent, really most people aren’t going to be touched by this, they’ll hardly notice it. But once this is done, the sun will shine again and young people will be able to buy houses and girls wouldn’t get pregnant because they’d be able to afford birth control. (She actually said that. Listen to the clip.)And so on. That’s the class warfare part of it, all envy and demand. Every sad and single thing she speaks of in the clip from the unaffordability of houses and healthcare that's been pushed past the limit by out-of-control immigration, is actually a consequence of nine years of Liberal overspending. It's spending too much money in an attempt to buy votes, financed by borrowing, and the inevitable inflation that follows a gang of people who don’t think about monetary policy, making major financial decisions that affect us all.But, she would also have you believe that it’s only Canada’s top 0.13 percent of household incomes that are going to be asked to pay for their mistakes. It would be impolite to ask why the property rights of rich people are less important than those of other people, so let’s just acknowledge that’s the way the left talks and has always talked.The thing is, it’s not so. For one thing, Canada's rich aren't rich enough to pay for what the Trudeau Liberals have done to this country.But the threshold beyond which the capital gains tax applies has been set so low — $250,000 — that it embraces small business people, farmers, doctors and every other member of the middle class who has worked hard and made prudent decisions. Context: As things stand, capital gains are added to taxable income at the rate of half what the seller profits. This portion is known as ‘the inclusion rate.’ Thus, you sell a piece of land and make $100,000 on it, you pay tax on $50,000. Under the changes Freeland announced Monday, that 50% becomes 67%; in the example, the seller would pay tax on $67,000. The wording suggests that it applies to corporations and trusts, but of course most small businesses are corporation and trusts, even your family doctor.So, you don’t have to be a bloated plutocrat to be robbed by the Liberals on Capital Gains Tax. You just need to be a farmer, trying to retire. Or a doctor selling a practice, or a small business entrepreneur or anybody selling the fruits of a lifetime of hard work.And will the bloated plutocrats pay more? Not if their accountants are on the ball. They have two months to sell out, to take advantage of the new rules not applying immediately. So of course do small business people, but smaller enterprises seldom have the same flexibility as the truly rich.It’s ironic. Mr. Trudeau fought the 2015 election as a champion of the middle class. But look what’s happened to Canada’s middle class since — taxes are, inflation is roaring, people are losing their homes because of high interest rates, and food bank use has never been higher. And if you listen to Ms. Freeland, teenage girls are getting pregnant because they can’t afford birth control.She says this is the 'defining measure of this parliamentary session.' No, the defining measure is this: "Are you better off today after nine years of Trudeau/Freeland inspired economic policy?"And that's what we'll be voting on.