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Discussion post: The informal economy (vegantheoryclub.org)

submitted 1 month ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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I did taxes for my family today and I feel sick about how much money I contributed to the war machine.

Detailed discussion of canadian/ontario Taxes taxes in the spoiler for people who don't care, but most of this is from a canadian perspective. Add your own in the comments or make your own post if you want to contribute!

spoiler

Notes on data sources:

I'm going to use the 2023-2024 projections because the 2024-2025 projections for income use a change to the capital gains tax that was scrapped. Therefore, I used the 2023-2024 fall economic update for spending details.

I used the 2023-2024 interim for the income estimates, and the Ministry Statements for spending

What taxes most people pay

Here are some of the most common taxes you will pay as an individual in Canada and how the money is used.

Income tax: Based on your income minus deductions, has both federal and provincial portions.
Sales tax: Based on what you buy, has both federal and provincial portions.
Excise Duty: This is charged on "spirits, wine, beer, tobacco products, vaping products, and cannabis products"(source). For example, in Ontario you pay 2.5% + $0.25 per gram of "flowering material"
Property tax: Based on municipal budget, and relative value of the property you live on versus the other properties. Together with levies and other special charges this funds municipal responsibilities such as the cops. Rates work backwards - a budget is set and tax rates come from that. An individual's share of the funding is related to their relative property value, but it gets confusing and weird to determine what you are paying if you rent from a purpose built rental because your portion of taxes is included in your rent price. (Fuck landlords, btw.)

Canada/Ontario Specifics

spoiler

Where does the money come from?

Federal

Of the total $465.1 B of budgetary revenues:

48% comes from personal income tax,
18% comes from corporate income tax,
11% from GST and
3% from excise duty + excise taxes.

Provincial

Of the $204.3B of budgetary revenues:

25% comes from personal income tax,
12% comes from corporate income tax,
19% comes from sales tax,
14% comes from healthcare premiums, education portion of property tax and other taxes
17% comes from the feds
14% comes from provincial businesses and non-tax sources

Where does the money go?

Federal

Of the total$497.5 B (excluding actuarial loss) of expenses:

24% is transferred to individuals for things like Old Age Security, Guaranteed Income Supplement, Employment Insurance, and Canada Child Benefit.
20% is transferred to the Provinces, Territories and Municipalities for things like healthcare, social programs, childcare, etc.
2% is carbon tax rebate
44% goes to direct expenses
9% goes to debt

The spending estimates spreadsheet doesn't easily break up transfers vs direct expenses, so I just picked a few expenses I thought might be interesting with % of the $219B direct expenses in brackets:

Canada Border Services $2.7B (1.2%)
Canadian Dairy Commission $0.004B
Canadian Security Intelligence Service $0.67B (0.3%)
Correctional Service Canada $3.053B (1.4%)
Department of National Defense (Total) $26.49B (12.1%)
Department of National Defense (Capital/Operating) $6.08B/$17.91B (2.8%/8.2%)
Department of Veterans Affairs (minus grants/contributions) $1.3B (0.6%)
Royal Canadian Mounted Police $4.17 (1.9%)

Provincial

Provincial spending is less complicated, and about $200B was spent in 2023-2024. Here are some highlights:

Court Services $0.65B (0.33%)
Prosecuting Crime Program $0.38B (0.19%)
Correctional Services Program $1.33B (0.66%)
Ontario Provincial Police $1.64B (0.82%)

Damn, that's sure a lot of money going to violence, and it doesn't even include your local police force!

Okay, so what do we do about it?

I was hoping we could have some discussion about ways we can do what we need to do outside of the formal economy. As always please remember:

The internet isn't an anon as you think it is
This is a vegan instance, keep it vegan.

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