AIMS On-Line for the end of June 2002
Here is what's new at AIMS, Atlantic Canada's Public Policy Think Tank
Equalization program called ‘help that hurts’
The program isn't working, says Kenneth J. Boessenkool, author of AIMS’ latest report on equalization, “Taxing Incentives: How Equalization Distorts Tax Policy in Recipient Provinces”. The Constitution provides for equalization to ensure provinces can deliver services at "reasonably comparable levels of taxation". The study's author said his findings suggest that on average, personal income tax is about 33% higher in the poorer provinces than in the so-called "have" provinces. This would suggest that Canada's $10.5-billion equalization program may be doing exactly the opposite of what it’s suppose to. Paul Hobson, an economics professor at Acadia University in Nova Scotia, disagrees with these conclusions. Hobson believes that equalization promotes fairness and that poorer provinces have higher taxes, not because they receive payments, but because they have lower average incomes and a smaller tax base. Boessenkool agrees that while equalization does do some good, the basic question r
Help That Hurts
Equalization creates incentives for poorer provinces to keep taxes too high
Protesters or G-7 countries: Who’s right?
The anti-globalization protesters that were on the streets of Halifax this past weekend were having a marvellous time. They weren’t just there for fun however, but to show their heart-felt support for a global movement that sees continued integration of the world's economic activity as being inimical to justice and, in particular, sees globalization as a front for vicious exploitation of the peoples of the Third World. Are they right? In his regular column, AIMS’ President Brian Lee Crowley reviews the status of Third World countries that follow the prescriptions of the anti-globalization protesters and shows a more appropriate slogan for those truly wishing to help them should be “More Trade, Less Aid”. Publication: CHH, MTT, June 19, 2002
Taxing Incentives
In this the third paper in AIMS' Equalization Series, author Kenneth J. Boessenkool discusses how equalization, although noble in intent, actually creates incentives for less-developed provinces to raise taxes and overtax their citizens.
What Stephen Harper got wrong – and right
In his regular column, AIMS' President Brian Lee Crowley writes: the recent comments by Alliance Leader Stephen Harper about the culture of defeatism in Atlantic Canada, and the response to those comments by East Coast politicians and others, were entertaining theatre. But like most plays based on a true story, the facts often get bent to serve a good story line. So while Mr. Harper actually had a substantive point that he overplayed, his opponents were also wrong in their rush to absolve Atlantic Canadians of any responsibility for their state. Publication: CHH, MTT, June 5, 2002