Canadians for Tax Fairness, Stop Corporate Tax Cuts petition
A new progressive, grassroots tax fairness advocacy organization has just been established in Canada–and its first initiative is a petition and campaign to stop additional corporate tax cuts.  The text is below.  If you are in agreement, please sign on and pass this on to your contacts.
We, the undersigned, oppose additional corporate tax cuts which will give billions of dollars to the country’s most highly profitable corporations, such as oil companies and banks.
Rather than foregoing this tax revenue, these funds should be used to pay for the public services that Canadians want and need and/or targeted to support the direct creation of more jobs.
We call on Parliament to stop the corporate tax cuts and instead implement a process to develop a fair and equitable tax system for Canada. We also call on all provincial governments to do likewise.
The new organization is called Canadians for Tax Fairness and it now has a website at www.taxfairness.ca It’s being spearheaded by Larry Gordon, founding president and former executive director of Fair Vote Canada.  Founding directors include Neil Brooks, Linda McQuaig, Murray Dobbin, Peter Bleyer, Trish Hennessy and others.  Here’s the mission statement.Â
“The mission of Canadians for Tax Fairness is to build a citizen-based, citizen-driven campaign organization to promote fair taxation, based on ability to pay, to fund the comprehensive, high-quality network of public services and programs required to meet our collective social, economic and environmental needs in the 21st century. Canadians for Tax Fairness will provide a platform for concerned citizens to work collectively toward that end, and to work hand in hand with other related campaigns and organizations working on similar goals.”
They have a lot of interesting advocacy ideas.  They have a growing list of resources, have downloadable flyers & posters, will have a monthly newsletter, and are planning to organize events.  Â
Canada has long needed a grassroots alternative to the Canadian Taxpayers Federation (which often seems more focused on cutting public spending than on promoting fair taxation), just as there are progressive tax justice organizations in other countries–and an international tax justice network.  Â
This is an exciting initiative to create that alternative in Canada. The organization is looking for volunteers, members and donations to get started. It is still in the early stages of development and welcomes any help, advice and involvement from those who share its mission, values and objectives.
This is good news and I wish their org good luck. This fills a gap in the Canadian progressive community’s agenda. Civil society in Canada has acquired an important tool with which to perform the fightback that, at least, will slow down the destruction, the attack on the people by neoliberal capitalists (fascists), and possibly help us make some gains.
Could have called it “The Actually Canadian Federation Involving Genuine Taxpayers”. To draw the distinction from that other thing which is neither Canadian, nor of Taxpayers, nor a Federation.
I hope this new group will talk more about long-run incidence of taxes when they talk about impact, that they’ll draft specific proposals about what a just system would like with specific optimal rates and tax mix, and so on. I mean, even Liberals can campaign today against minor short-term rate reductions, the real debate is whether the rates should be dramatically higher. Was a combined Canada-Ontario rate of around 45% just? Is having the HST just? What would be a just high marginal income tax rate? None of these questions is obvious to me, and I think about them often.
I think that justice is, roughly, social equality. But I’m skeptical that heavy taxes on capital actually produce large new revenues out of the pockets of capitalists. Better-off professionals and workers might need to bear the brunt of tax increases if people want new programs. Or we can stop trying to build “capitalism with a human face” and move on to something different.
I kind of agree with your last point.
But if taxes didn’t cost capitalists net money, they wouldn’t go to such massive efforts to stop being taxed.
I think a goal should be to clarify the purpose of taxes, as opposed to the purposes of Banks and the stock market.
Business interests and lobby groups like the Chamber of Commerce have successfully convinced politicians to use taxes for business subsidies and low interest loans.
The Canadian public agreed to pay taxes for infrastructure (like roads, water systems, hospitals, etc) and social programs (like fire fighters, police, and education).
The Business lobby needs to be reminded the banks and stock market were designed to provide funding for business. Their dependance on tax funding must be gradually weaned and stopped. It will mean a healthier and stronger, more self sufficient business community.
Most Canadians are willing to pay taxes for the right reasons, directed strictly toward clearly defined purposes -funding social benefits. We need to change the business “Nanny State”, and eliminate all subsidies and loopholes. It is a falacy to believe we need to buy jobs from business. They either need workers, or they don’t. Stop asking for taxes to save corporations and CEO’s “Too Big Too Fail” fantasy.