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Self-Interest of Wealthy Investors Explains Over-the-Top Reaction to Capital Gains Reform
The federal government’s 2024-25 budget included an important reform to the taxation of capital gains. Capital gains occur when an asset is sold for more than it cost to acquire. Capital gains are heavily concentrated among high-income Canadians – more so than any other form of income. And making matters worse, they receive lucrative tax preferences: until this year, recipients only had to declare half their gains on their income tax (for a so-called ‘inclusion rate’ of 50%). The other half was entirely tax-free. In contrast, other forms of income (like wages and salaries) must all be reported on a tax return: that is, their ‘inclusion rate’ is 100%!
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Commentary on 2024 Federal Budget
Canada’s Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland tabled the 2024-25 federal budget on April 16. The one major revenue measures in the budget (a change in the partial inclusion rate for capital gains income above a threshold of $250,000 per year) has sparked great outrage from powerful financial interests – but will have no direct impact on 99.9% of personal tax filers...
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To Improve Productivity, Stop Paying People Nothing to Do Nothing
Centre for Future Work Director Jim Stanford argues that requiring platform businesses to pay their workers at least minimum wage for all hours worked, would not just be fair: it would also be a powerful spur to better productivity.
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Documentary Shines Light on Excessive Food Prices in Canada
Rapidly rising food prices have been a major component of the cost-of-living crisis affecting Canadian households in the aftermath of the COVID pandemic. Food price inflation was significantly faster than overall inflation in 2022 and 2023.
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CANADALAND Podcast Explores the ‘War on Workers’
The renowned independent broadcasters at CANADALAND have launched a new series of podcasts (part of their Commons series) exploring issues in work, employment, and fairness. The pilot of the series, titled ‘The War on Workers,’ features an extended conversation with Centre for Future Work Director Jim Stanford
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Real Wages are Recovering… and That’s Good News!
The beginning of 2024 brought some good labour market news for a change: average real wages in Canada increased in 2023, reversing some of the damage from post-COVID inflation.
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Workers Strike Back
Some observers called 2023 the Year of the Strike, and at times that moniker was fitting. Across a wide range of industries, workers hit the picket lines to support demands for pay increases that kept up with surging inflation. Over the first nine months of 2023 (the latest data at time of writing), Canada lost a total of 2.2 million work days to work stoppages...
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Risks and Uncertainties Facing Canada’s Economy in 2024
Canada’s economy enters the New Year facing a wide range of challenges and uncertainties: high interest rates, stalling economic growth, and rising unemployment. To review the outlook, CBC Radio’s Sunday Magazine, hosted by Piya Chattopadhyay, recently broadcast a full 20-minute interview with Centre for Future Work Director Jim Stanford.
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Review of Gas Price Roller-Coaster in 2023 Revealed Important Lessons
As 2023 drew to a close, it wa3s instructive to review the path of gasoline prices (which are the most volatile major component in Canada’s consumer price index) over the year. According to the GasBuddy website, the average price on December 31 was $1.39/litre. That was 5₵ cheaper than at the beginning of 2023. But gas prices followed a long, winding road to get there.
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On Canadian Unionism, History, and Phony Horse-Races
Auto unions in both Canada and the U.S. are currently engaged in high-stakes negotiations with the three major North American automakers (GM, Ford, and Stellantis – formerly Chrysler). The two unions have similar goals: to make sure workers share in the gains these companies are making. It’s important to know the different histories, structures, and cultures of the two unions, before making any simplistic comparisons between them. Centre for Future Work Director Jim Stanford considers those differences in this commentary, originally published by rabble.ca.