2020- 2022 Policy Process | Green Party of Canada
Where GPC membership collaborates to develop our policies
G21-P056 Eliminate Extreme Wealth Via Progressive Taxation
Submitter Name
Atul Bahl
Ratification Vote Results: Adopted
PDPC Comment: P056 has significant content overlap with P057. Both P056 and P057 were adopted at the 18th General Meeting.
Proposal
The GPC will advocate for: increasing tax rates for higher income brackets; imposing steep, progressive wealth and inheritance taxes on net worth and estates over $10 million and 100% on wealth and estates above a certain cap; and taxing income from capital at a rate equal to income from labour.
Objective
To reduce wealth concentration and inequality in Canada and thereby to protect and strengthen Canadian democracy.
Benefit
Extreme wealth threatens democracy. The ultra-rich have the resources to bend the political and legal systems and the corporate media to their will. To prevent this and create the conditions in which democracy can thrive, we must greatly reduce the concentration of wealth in the hands of the few.
Supporting Comments from Submitter
1. From the late 1930s to the early 1970s, the top marginal tax rate in Canada exceeded 70% and, for some years during that period, it exceeded 90%. See: How Much Income Tax Could Canada’s 1% Pay?, October 2015. Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives: https://www.policyalternatives.ca/sites/default/files/uploads/publications/National%20Office/2015/10/How_Much_Tax_Could_Canadas_Top_1_Pay.pdf.
2. See Wetiko: On Capitalism, Mind Viruses, and Antidotes for a World in Transition:
3. Capital and Ideology, Thomas Piketty.
4. Canada’s top billionaires are $37 billion richer since start of the pandemic, September 16, 2020. Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives:
https://www.policyalternatives.ca/newsroom/news-releases/billionaires-wealth-pandemic
5. Growing wealth inequality 'dangerous' threat to democracy: experts, April 15, 2016, Reuters:
https://ca.reuters.com/article/idUSKCN0XC1Q2.
6. Wealth Tax? Canadians like the idea. November 19, 2020, Abacus Data:
https://abacusdata.ca/wealth-tax-canada-poll/.
Green Value(s)
Ecological Wisdom, Sustainability, Participatory Democracy, Social Justice, Respect for Diversity, Non-Violence.
Relation to Existing Policy
Add to current GPC policies G18-P021 Eliminate the Use of Tax Havens, G14-P02 High-frequency Stock Trading Tax, G10-p23 Robin Hood Tax, and G08-p026: Tobin Tax to Increase Foreign Aid.
Amendments (1)
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Created at
11/03/2022 -
- 1
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The reason this proposal was categorized yellow was that it overlaps with the one that I crafted earlier (https://www.greenparty.ca/en/convention-2021/voting/proposals/g21-p057). This one was put forward by Atul Bahl (actually Dimitri Lascaris under Bahl's name). The only difference between the two is that Bahl took my proposal and added specific thresholds for when wealth and inheritance taxes would kick in (above $10 million), and set a 100% tax rate on inheritance and incomes above a 'certain cap'.
The reason we are in this situation is that after writing my proposal, one of Dimitri's followers suggested that I invite him to sign on as a supporter. He suggested the above-described amendments, which I rejected because setting specifics like that is not good policy-making. In response, rather than putting his changes forward as an (unfriendly) amendment, Dimitri copied my proposal, added in his desired amendments, and put it forward as a separate amendment. Both proposals received more than enough support to likely pass.
I think the best way forward is to have my proposal stand as-is, and remove the substance of my proposal from Bahl's, leaving behind the calls for a specific threshold when wealth and inheritance taxes kick in, and the call for 100% taxes on wealth and inheritance above a certain cap. I think it is important for the membership to consider if they really want to tie the hands of future Green MPs with a specific number, and if they really want a 100% tax on income and wealth and inheritance - this would mean, of course, if you or your inheritors are fractionally below that certain cap, you retain a tiny portion of your income or the estate; at or above it and you receive nothing. I fear that these implications have not been considered because there has been very little workshopping of proposals this time around.
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