A Message to Maxime Bernier

The following is the text of a message I just sent Maxime Bernier. M. Bernier founded and now leads the Peoples Party of Canada. Previously, he served in the cabinet of Prime Minister Stephen Harper as Minister of Industry, Minister of Foreign Affairs, and Minister of State for Small Business and Tourism. He was narrowly defeated by Andrew Scheer in the contest for the leadership of the Conservative Party of Canada.

Following today's announcement of Andrew Scheer's resignation as leader of the Conservative Party, I emailed M. Bernier as follows:

Now Scheer's out, time to rejoin the Tories and make another run for the leadership. Best regards, .... PS Don't be hard on Greta, she's only reacting to what her teachers, the science establishment, the media and the Government of every Western Nation have endlessly told her, namely, that carbon dioxide is destroying the earth and that she, as a member of the youngest generation, will suffer the greatest consequences. So she may know nothing about climate science, but she is responding entirely reasonably to what almost all supposedly responsible people are telling her. ALSO the carbon tax is the most economically efficient way to control carbon emissions, but it's insane for Canada to adopt a carbon tax on a purely national basis as that puts us hugely at a disadvantage with trade partners without a carbon tax. We should opt for a carbon tax only in conjunction with our major trade partners, especially the US, and provided that there is a countervailing duty on goods from countries without a carbon tax. FINALLY Why not a real tax reform proposal including: (1) 100% tax exemption on income below the median earned income; (2) an increase in the GST to 20%, with rebates to those with below median incomes (this would make the GST a consumption tax that would encourage savings and investment); (3) a zero rate corporation tax on distributed earnings (which will then be taxed as personal income in the hands of recipients); (4) a flat tax of 20% on all income in excess of the median (i.e., including capital gains assessed annually on all financial assets whether disposed of or not); (5) if there is a need for additional revenue, a capital tax, not to exceed 1%, with a personal exemption of $2 million.

If you agree, why not write M. Bernier (info@maximebernier.com) too.

PostScript:
In response to those urging Maxime Bernier to run for the Conservative Party leadership, the People's Party of Canada issued a statement reading, in part:

Following the resignation of the Andrew Scheer yesterday, our leader Maxime Bernier was asked by some journalists if he intended to run again in a CPC leadership race. His answer was clear: There is zero chance of it happening. That party is morally and intellectually corrupt. Scheer was a weak leader who pushed it to the centre. Their next leader will do the same. This is why our party exists: To offer a principled conservative alternative to Canadians. We’re here to stay!

That is the only reasonable reaction, though it does not mean that M. Bernier would not, under the right circumstances, run for the leadership of the Conservative Party of Canada: it just means that the Conservative Party of Canada would have to send a top level delegates to entreat M. Bernier to run for the leadership. They'd also need to make a public apology for Scheer's people hiring a shyster PR outfit, i.e., Warren Kinsella, to mendaciously smear Bernier as a racist.

This, however, the Conservative Party of Canada will not do for the obvious reason that the Conservative Party of Canada is not a conservative party. It is just another liberal party that operates in accordance with two fundamental forces:

First, the fear of being found politically incorrect.

Second, the bipartisan lust for after office payoffs, which means subservience to the money power and in particular the freedom of the banks to print the money with which they have inflated one of the World's greatest property bubbles, in the process making Canadians among the world's most indebted people. 

A Tax Reform Plan for the People's Party of Canada

Maxime Bernier has split with the Conservative Party of Canada on the ground that they are morally corrupt, a mundane fact, applicable almost certainly to every political party in contention for power in the Western world. Still, by creating his own party, the People's Party of Canada, Bernier has an opportunity to add some fresh, and indeed important, ideas to the toxic stew of bad or idiotic policies that constitute the bedrock of mainstream politics in Canada. Tax policy is among the many areas of Canadian national policy in need of re-imagining, and the issue of the carbon tax provides an opportunity to undertake major tax reform.

Economists agree that carbon emissions reductions can be achieved most efficiently by means of a carbon tax. The carbon tax is unpopular, however, because it is seen as just one more government impost upon an already overtaxed populace.  Bernier can, therefore, seize the initiative by committing to an overall revenue-neutral carbon tax achieved by raising the basic personal exemption to Federal income tax from $11,365 to $33,300, the latter amount being the median income from employment in Canada. Thus, at a stroke, the PPC would be committed to relieving 50% of the Canadian workforce of all Federal income tax.

In addition, the PPC should commit to paying every low-income worker an amount equal to 15% (the base Federal tax rate) of the difference between their earned annual income and $33,000. As a result of these measures every one of Canada's 18 million workers, whether they are of high or low income, would receive a benefit, either in cash or reduced Federal income tax, amounting to approximately $3,000.

Some will ask why the poor should pay no tax when they are the beneficiaries of many publicly funded services. But the answer to that is obvious: first, the poor do the shitty jobs while the rich reap the benefit of the labor of the poor, so why would one not expect those who are better off to pay most if not all of the taxes; second, even if they pay no Federal income tax, the poor will still pay a large proportion of their income in tax, including gas tax, provincial income and sales taxes, liquor tax, tobacco tax, and all the taxes imposed across the supply chain that must be reflected in the price of everything that a person buys.

As for the cost to the Federal treasury, it would be quite small. The tax reduction on the wages of low income earners would cost the Treasury approximately $27 billion a year, which would be more than covered by the anticipated carbon tax revenue of $35 billion a year. In addition there would be the cost of the tax reduction on the wages of high income earners, another $27 billion a year, leaving a deficit of $19 billion after factoring in the carbon tax revenue. That deficit could be covered, ideally, by cuts in Federal Government expenditure, or alternatively by a 2% increase in the GST, a consumption tax that is already rebated to those of low income.

As for the overall effect of the carbon tax on the Canadian economy, the potential downside is to expose home industry to unfair carbon-tax-free competition from abroad. That however can be avoided by imposing a countervailing duty on all goods from countries without a carbon tax, a trade barrier that would provide Canadian industry significant protection against the intense competition from the sweat-shop economies of the developing world. Also on the plus side, the cut to personal income tax would increase consumer spending and hence stimulate the economy.