The Monitor, January/February 2017

Building a Progressive Tax System
Edited by: 
January 1, 2017
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It feels a bit counterintuitive, after a tumultuous 2016, to be talking about the mundane matter of tax reform. This is normally a time of deeper reflection on the year that was and the trends and challenges to come. Slow growth in the global economy, the collapse of mega-regional trade deals like the TPP and TTIP, the election of a sexist, race-baiting bully in the U.S. and rise of neo-fascist populism in Europe, and the staying power of autocratic regimes in China, Russia and elsewhere are just some of the events a startling number of political and media commentators put into end-of-year elegies to the liberal democratic order. Tax reform on its own cannot keep the circling wolves at bay, but it could play a much bigger role in rebalancing Canada’s national wealth and re-energizing a sluggish economy—by shifting the burden back where it belongs, on those with the means to pay.

Here is a sample of articles from this issue. To receive the Monitor at home, please make a donation to the CCPA.

  • Redistribution and inequality: Claire Young on how reforms to tax policy could help close the wealth gap in Canada
  • Another look at a basic income: Armine Yalnizyan asks if we’re better off when we have more income, or need less of it?
  • Takeovers and taxation: Robin Shaban says there are ways to temper the effect of mergers and acquisitions on inequality
  • Trump and trade: Scott Sinclair on why NAFTA renegotiation could soon put the Trudeau government’s commitment to inclusive prosperity to the test
  • The Saudi arms deal: There is a way to control arms exports; Asad Ismi asks whether Canada have the will?
  • A reprieve for Standing Rock: Jeremy Arpel on cross-border solidarity with North Dakota’s land defenders and anti-pipeline activists
  • Engaging communities: Paul Shaker on participatory municipal planning 

Cover illustration by Nicole Tang.

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