BC Political Discussion: Election 2024 & 43rd Parliament

[mcj]

Originally Posted by chowhou

You can apply for your own here:

https://vancouver.ca/your-government/request-a-proclamation.aspx

There's a reason this wasn't publicised anywhere other than Chip Wilson's Instagram.

Maybe you can fit your day in between Chip Wilson Day and Dwayne the Rock Johnson Day

What you can request proclamations for

Local events and initiatives
Charitable and community-service initiatives
Health and public service initiatives
Multicultural awareness
Special anniversaries for non-profit organizations that benefit communities
Someone who's made a major community contribution

Which one does he fall under?

Especially if your claim of him "being vocal about how little he controls lawmakers" is true, why would he bother doing this? To being with, why even make that claim? I have little control over lawmakers too, stating that would be ridiculous unless I had control over lawmakers I was trying to distract from.

[chowhou]

Originally Posted by mcj

Which one does he fall under?

Especially if your claim of him "being vocal about how little he controls lawmakers" is true, why would he bother doing this? To being with, why even make that claim? I have little control over lawmakers too, stating that would be ridiculous unless I had control over lawmakers I was trying to distract from.

Which one does Dwayne the Rock Johnson fall under? Why would The Rock bother requesting a day if he doesn't control lawmakers? Listen, you don't have to like the guy and I certainly don't but it should be pretty obvious that Chip Wilson did make a pretty significant community contribution starting Lululemon in Vancouver and keeping it here plus he's thrown some charitable money around so it's probably his right to egotistically request the mayor proclaim that. This isn't the proof you think it is.

Which category do you think Gregor Robertson's girlfriend fell under by the way? What a sweet birthday gift.

To answer your question, according to the mayor's office:

In a statement to CTV News, the mayor’s office said: “Summer and Chip Wilson are remarkable examples of how local entrepreneurs and philanthropists can shape an entire community, making an impact that stretches beyond just Vancouver.”

According to the statement, the Wilsons were honoured for their philanthropy, including their $1 million donation to Vancouver General Hospital, and other financial contributions, such as the $1.5 million they spent to permanently secure the iconic A-maze-ing Laughter sculptures in English Bay.

https://www.ctvnews.ca/vancouver/article...installed-sign-calling-bc-ndp-communist/

[WarrenC12]

Originally Posted by chowhou

So you think the NDP are beholden to Chip Wilson? Be serious.

No but they probably favor their largest donors just the same way Sim does for Chip. Are you being purposefully obtuse? Politics and money are pretty clearly linked.

Originally Posted by chowhou

Well economic consensus is that taxing capital disincentivizes investment in a country so if that's what you'd like I guess it makes sense. I don't see a reason to increase capital gains right now given the "problem" you claim to exist doesn't seem to exist. I'm all for lowering income taxes though, productivity should ideally not be taxed.

We are in a giant deficit situation. Lowering taxes isn't the answer.

[djmk]

Originally Posted by WarrenC12

What if we had a capital gains inclusion rate of 100%? So capital appreciation is taxed as much as labour? Would that make sense?

The problem is that people start making investment decisions based on tax rather that investing reasons.

for example, there are lots of people in this city that have owned investment property for decades where the cost value is basically nothing (in todays money). Telling them that they will lose 26% of the proceeds in taxes causses them to think twice of selling their property. Nobody will sell their property if 53% of the gain is lost in taxes.

There is a real argument that capital gains tax indirectly decreased the supply of housing on the market and consequently increased its price.

[chowhou]

Originally Posted by WarrenC12

No but they probably favor their largest donors just the same way Sim does for Chip. Are you being purposefully obtuse? Politics and money are pretty clearly linked.

You're too America-brained. What "largest donors"? How much money do you think Chip Wilson gives to Sim or ABC? We don't have PACs or Super PACs like what the Americans have. We have extremely tight election financing laws. The NDP recently made them even tighter.

We are in a giant deficit situation. Lowering taxes isn't the answer.

Reducing the tax base is also not the answer. I would personally like to see economic growth in this province, wouldn't you?

[djmk]

Originally Posted by WarrenC12

We are in a giant deficit situation. Lowering taxes isn't the answer.

We are definitely not lowering taxes. This new PST is going to cost you lots

[chowhou]

Originally Posted by djmk

We are definitely not lowering taxes. This new PST is going to cost you lots

The NDP did cut taxes recently, the carbon tax, which was one of the biggest political blunders to come out of the Eby government if you ask me. That's $3B a year we used to have.

[WarrenC12]

Originally Posted by chowhou

The NDP did cut taxes recently, the carbon tax, which was one of the biggest political blunders to come out of the Eby government if you ask me. That's $3B a year we used to have.

I agree, higher consumption taxes are good.

[WarrenC12]

Originally Posted by djmk

The problem is that people start making investment decisions based on tax rather that investing reasons.

for example, there are lots of people in this city that have owned investment property for decades where the cost value is basically nothing (in todays money). Telling them that they will lose 26% of the proceeds in taxes causses them to think twice of selling their property. Nobody will sell their property if 53% of the gain is lost in taxes.

There is a real argument that capital gains tax indirectly decreased the supply of housing on the market and consequently increased its price.

Of course people will sell. It's not all about real estate, it's any capital.

[mcj]

Originally Posted by djmk

We are definitely not lowering taxes. This new PST is going to cost you lots

There isn't a new PST, it's an expansion of the existing one to cover professional services and some things that were exempt like yarn. I spend most of my money on housing and food, this really isn't going to cost me, or most people, that much extra.

[mcj]

Originally Posted by chowhou

The NDP did cut taxes recently, the carbon tax, which was one of the biggest political blunders to come out of the Eby government if you ask me. That's $3B a year we used to have.

To be fair, this was a Carney government policy directive, Eby chose not to outright defy the federal government (and why would he at such a moment in our country's history?). You're correct it was the largest tax cut in our Province's history and a slap in the face to someone like me that made changes in their life to use less carbon.

[chowhou]

Originally Posted by mcj

There isn't a new PST, it's an expansion of the existing one to cover professional services and some things that were exempt like yarn. I spend most of my money on housing and food, this really isn't going to cost me, or most people, that much extra.

If it doesn't cost that much extra, then not much revenue is being generated. That's kind of how that works.

Originally Posted by mcj

To be fair, this was a Carney government policy directive, Eby chose not to outright defy the federal government (and why would he at such a moment in our country's history?). You're correct it was the largest tax cut in our Province's history and a slap in the face to someone like me that made changes in their life to use less carbon.

Not true, the BC carbon tax was a completely different policy than the federal carbon tax and there was no "defying" or "accepting" happening. We had our carbon tax before the federal government implemented theirs so ours was independent. When Carney ended the federal one, Eby spinelessly followed populist tides and sunk our deficit deeper for seemingly no reason.

[WarrenC12]

Originally Posted by mcj

To be fair, this was a Carney government policy directive, Eby chose not to outright defy the federal government (and why would he at such a moment in our country's history?). You're correct it was the largest tax cut in our Province's history and a slap in the face to someone like me that made changes in their life to use less carbon.

Well, you're probably benefitting a lot more with the price of gas these days. I know I am.

[djmk]

Originally Posted by WarrenC12

Of course people will sell. It's not all about real estate, it's any capital.

the same goes for all capital.

All taxes causes people to make decisions. Buying and selling becomes more expensive. There are consequences to these decisions.

People walking around with bags of cash and the entire underground economy is a consequence of tax.

[chowhou]

Originally Posted by WarrenC12

Well, you're probably benefitting a lot more with the price of gas these days. I know I am.

I personally killed all my plans to replace the house gas furnace with a heat pump. Sorry all, I'm not planning on consciously increasing my heating bill after it was cut so much!

[djmk]

Originally Posted by mcj

There isn't a new PST, it's an expansion of the existing one to cover professional services and some things that were exempt like yarn. I spend most of my money on housing and food, this really isn't going to cost me, or most people, that much extra.

There are very real consequences for increasing the cost of professional services.

You can't access government services with doing a tax return. You can't get divorced without a lawyer. You can't build a house without an engineer.

[mcj]

Originally Posted by WarrenC12

Well, you're probably benefitting a lot more with the price of gas these days. I know I am.

Yeah, saving a lot on gas these days since the few pennies the carbon tax added are gone...

[WarrenC12]

Originally Posted by mcj

Yeah, saving a lot on gas these days since the few pennies the carbon tax added are gone...

I think you misunderstood my meaning.

If you went low carbon because of the tax, you are still saving a ton of money on gas. I went EV in 2018, zero regrets. The price of gas is insane right now.

[WarrenC12]

Originally Posted by djmk

the same goes for all capital.

All taxes causes people to make decisions. Buying and selling becomes more expensive. There are consequences to these decisions.

People walking around with bags of cash and the entire underground economy is a consequence of tax.

What's your point? We were talking about the huge government deficits. Any plan to address that?

[mcj]

Originally Posted by djmk

There are very real consequences for increasing the cost of professional services.

You can't access government services with doing a tax return. You can't get divorced without a lawyer. You can't build a house without an engineer.

Use wealthsimple for my tax returns (it's free). Not getting divorced or building a house any time soon either.

You also can't do any of those things without a computer, which already had PST charged on it, it's really not the end of the world that in a service economy we are charging sales tax on services.