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The CTF’s annual projections found Canadians at a variety of income levels and in various family situations will fork over on average 2% more of their earnings to the government starting Jan. 1.So, that's a nice late Christmas present, courtesy of the Conservative Party of Canada. I was just thinking the other day that I'm simply keeping too much of my income. (Yes CPC supporters, I'm sure the coalition would have raised taxes even higher.)
Tuesday, December 28, 2010
Conservatives Raise Payroll Taxes
According to the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, we will be paying more payroll tax, starting January 1st.
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17 comments:
So what,pay it and get off EI.Everything is going up ..Shut off the power to our houses and blame the Conservatives.Get a life and quit trying to get into the spotlight like the CTF.
You didn't actually believe Harpers October 2009 promise of no tax increases did you?
Tax increases by the party in power to fund projects to help them retain that power form a very long political tradition in our (once) great nation.
Besides..... this is probably be one of those promises that we'll be told we shouldn't have taken seriously in the first place so it's really our own darned fault if we're disappointed it wasn't kept.
Supporting them at the next election will just get you more of the same regardless of which party you choose to support.
Freedom: it is not clear that the payroll tax RATES are being increased. What is definite is that the maximums are going up. In 2011, the maximum CPP-able income will be $48,300 instead of $47,200 in 2010, but the rate remains at 4.95%. So only those folk making more than $47,200 will pay more (and their employers).
Similarly, for EI, the maximum insurable income rises to $44,200 from $43,200. If the rate remains at 1.73%, only those folks making more than $43,200 will be affected (and their employers). However, if the rate is also changed - and I have seen several rates quoted, with 1.78% being the most common, then everyone will pay an extra 5 cents per $100 in insurable wages. At the old maximum of $43,200 that means an extra $21.60 to the government. At the new maximum of $44,200 that means the maximum premium will be $786.76 which is up $39.40 from the 2010 maximum of $747.36.
Interestingly, I have not been able to get confirmation of any 2011 rates from the CRA website. Their tables for CPP and EI only go up to 2010.
When you think about it, it makes sense that the maximum pensionable/insurable income rises with inflation (and increasing wages). If not, then workers would find themselves reaching the maximums very quickly each year, with the result that - when they finally came to collect their pension or EI benefits - what they would receive would be based on a very low annual figure, and they would be worse off.
bertie, I will be paying a higher percentage of tax next year. I am not upset if I earn more and pay more, but only if it is the same percentage. They were in direct control of this, so of course I would blame the Conservatives. Who else is there to blame?
I'm not "trying to get into the spotlight", I'm just pointing out the Conservatives raised taxes. Isn't this supposed to be a bad thing? I have never met another party member that liked higher taxes. Am I supposed to ignore this because they are the blue team?
Bullhockey. It's all to pay for invisible jails, war on marijuana and sex, more cops, more jets, showy and expensive events, payola for journos, extending wars and a myriad other wasted billions for the kind of mindless trivia Cons bathe in.
Frances, CTF shows that even at $15,000 income, you will pay more (go to the details part)
http://taxpayer.com/node/13689
So I did review the details you linked to, and no, the Conservatives did not increase the rates. The stats are very misleading in this example.
In fact, the CPP contribution rates and the federal income tax rates are exactly the same.
In the example you refer to, where a hypothetical person earning $15,000 will pay more in taxes in the next year, that's really just the effect of 'bracket creep'. In the CTF example, they compare a person earning $15K one year, with a person earning $15K plus an inflation factor, so we're not really comparing the same income from one year to the next.
Now why is the effect so big for the lower income person? Simple. It's because most of their income is not taxed because it's below the basic personal exemption. Only about $4K of that $15K income is taxed. Then add on inflation, and say the income base in the example is now $15.2K. Well, now you have about $4.2K of income to be taxed at the lowest bracket.
Proportionally, it looks like they're getting a big tax increase. Not. The tax rates are the same.
The CTF "analysis" assumes that one will get a raise equal to that of the provincial CPI and chooses Sept '09-'10 for the provincial CPIs. That makes sure to include the inflationary impact of BC and Ont introducing the HST and that impact will not be offset by the increase in the income levels for the various federal tax brackets.
Why did the CTF not choose the June CPI for Ontario which was a mere 1.6% instead of Sept's 2.9%? Or why not use Nov's 3.0%?
The CTF analysis is little more than fun with spreadsheets torqued to meet a pre-defined premise. Which is a shame. That's usually a technique used exclusively by hardcore socialist outfits like the Canadian Center For Policy Alternatives with the end result being derision and dismissal.
Rates on federal payroll taxes have not increased for 2011 but the maximums have increased by less than $100 total.
Federal income tax rates are unchanged and the income levels on for the individual tax brackets have increased about the same amount as the country wide CPI.
If you live in Ontario and are one of the many Ontarians who will not be getting a raise of any sort in 2011, you will be paying less federal tax in 2011 than in 2010.
If you live in Ontario and are getting a 2.9% raise to match the Sep '09-'10 CPI and you do not work for any gov't at any level or your company is not dependent on gov't handouts, then congrats to you and quite frankly there aren't many who really give a rats ass that you have to pay a few more bucks in taxes.
If the CTF and their supporters want something to bitch about, perhaps they could argue for more realistic adjustments to the income levels that define the tax brackets instead of cherry picking numbers based on provincial inflation to cause a sensation.
One more thing I just noticed in their 'details'. They are using so called national averages. If you look at the tables, they do a calculation for each province, and you will notice that some are showing tax increases and some are showing decreases.
When you start including the provincial effects, it's tough to really say any changes here are caused by the federal government.
Also, it's interesting to see how they calculate a national average for each year. They add up the 10 tax bills for the hypothetical taxpayer in each province, and then divide by 10--ie. each province is given the same weighting in the national average calculation.
Remind me not to hire whoever prepared these studies to manage my finances!
You're right. It is kind of silly to assume one person getting X will make X+inflation, then say they are getting a tax increase since they are now paying tax on the inflation amount plus the tax on X. Though inflation does cause some level of extra taxation.
There still is a tax increase for most, even with income being constant, because the maximum for EI and CPP went up and medium income is above those amounts. The Conservatives did do this.
There still is a tax increase for most, even with income being constant, because the maximum for EI and CPP went up and medium income is above those amounts. The Conservatives did do this.
Those aren't taxes, they are premiums...and any increase is used only to maintain the programs themselves. Or would you rather have us prop up the EI and CPP programs from General Revenue?
Your desperation is showing...
it would appear i am still the only living conservative in canada.
We have so much to be thankful for,yet we help out the Liberals by fighting amongst ourselves.So what if the taxes or rates went up, it is part of ensuring a sustainable flow of money to the unemployed.Why don,t you instead of such drivel,bring up the $50 billion the Liberals pilfered from the EI fund and talk more about that.No, instead you talk about a small increase to the ei fund that may or may not even happen.When will we ever learn.
CPP is more of a social program than a pension. Yes, I would prefer it doesn't expand and I don't have to pay for it.
EI is a mandatory insurance that I would otherwise not pay into.
I consider them both to be taxes.
Yes, CPP and EI are both taxes. However, while the maximum going up increases the level to which you contribute, it also increases the maximum level to which you recieve benefits (ie. the pension you eventually collect) proportionally.
These limits have always been indexed to inflation somewhat. I'm like you in that I would rather do away with EI and CPP completely and basically self-insure. However, if you're going to have a national pension plan, it would be pretty stupid to not grow it with inflation. If you think getting a pension of $10K per year is small now, imagine what that $10K per year would buy a century from now if the program never kept pace with inflation.
Guess what? The Conservatives also increased the basic personal exemption and some tax bracket thresholds to keep pace with inflation. Technically, using your logic, you should be reporting they are effectively decreasing taxes. Because, for a constant income, you will pay a lower income tax bill! But that's not really the point, is it? That's just trying to keep all things in line with some measure of inflation as much as possible. It's not meant to increase or decrease taxes for anybody. It's just something that all governments have tried to do for years.
I knew Harper is up to no good. He was Bush's bitch, now he's batman aka Obama's bitch.
A simple way of dealing those greedy dumb asses. Is to create two parties, distinct. Vote them into power and say good bye to the Liberals and the Conservatives.
the so-called Liberals and so called Conservative only care about homosexuals, pedophiles and offering children to their demonic idols.
My husband just started working at this company that sells vacuums and they don't deduct any payroll taxes. How can we calculate the payroll deductions for the month?
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