Path: utzoo!attcan!utgpu!golchowy From: golchowy@gpu.utcs.utoronto.ca (Gerald Olchowy) Newsgroups: can.general Subject: Re: Flat-Rate Tax Message-ID: <1989Aug24.152032.15356@gpu.utcs.utoronto.ca> Date: 24 Aug 89 19:20:32 GMT Distribution: can Organization: University of Toronto Computing Services Lines: 48 Checksum: 14410 A flat-tax rate system is (IMHO) the only fair tax system. One might have a large personal exemption to give immediate assistance to the low end of the income spectrum, but that should be the the only exemption. In addition, one could have different rates for individuals and for businesses. (Ideally, business income should be untaxed. You can tax business income by taxing the dividend and capital gains incomes of individuals. However, businesses should not be able to claim phony expenses like 3-martini lunches and boxes at the SkyDome as business expenses...but then this is a whole other issue) In response to article 1618 from that entrepreneurs would not like such a system, IMHO that is absolutely wrong. True entrepreneurs would welcome a flat tax rate system with open arms. Then market forces determine what investments are made and are profitable, rather than the dubious wisdom of a loophole-riddled tax system where the government robs from the many to endow the chosen anointed few, and where vast armies of lawyers and accountants do essentially unproductive work to obtain memberships for themselves and their clients in this elite class. The problem with most of Canadian business is that it is not entrepreneurial...it is at the government trough like most of the citizens of this country. As for the comment that some investments are more risky than others, that's the way its supposed to be. The oil industry was mentioned. Let's take this as an example. If nobody goes looking for oil, the price of oil is sure to rise. (I still see more cars on the road than bicycles...another pearl of Canadian wisdom, the Brazilians are evil for burning the Amazon rainforests....but you aren't for driving your car to work in AnyCity, North America). As the price of oil rises, the potential profit than becomes proportional to the potential risk, and if you are a competent oil driller, with a flat rate tax system, you will be able to realize that potential profit and provide society with the oil it requires. If you are investing in something risky that society does not desire, you aren't being a very astute entrepreneur, and the government should not reward you for your incompetence or for taking an ill-advised risk. Gerald Olchowy Department of Chemistry, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario M5S 1A1