this post was submitted on 26 Jun 2023
56 points (100.0% liked)
Canada
7204 readers
278 users here now
What's going on Canada?
Communities
๐ Meta
๐บ๏ธ Provinces / Territories
- Alberta
- British Columbia
- Manitoba
- New Brunswick
- Newfoundland and Labrador
- Northwest Territories
- Nova Scotia
- Nunavut
- Ontario
- Prince Edward Island
- Quebec
- Saskatchewan
- Yukon
๐๏ธ Cities / Local Communities
- Calgary (AB)
- Edmonton (AB)
- Greater Sudbury (ON)
- Halifax (NS)
- Hamilton (ON)
- Kootenays (BC)
- London (ON)
- Mississauga (ON)
- Montreal (QC)
- Nanaimo (BC)
- Oceanside (BC)
- Ottawa (ON)
- Port Alberni (BC)
- Regina (SK)
- Saskatoon (SK)
- Thunder Bay (ON)
- Toronto (ON)
- Vancouver (BC)
- Vancouver Island (BC)
- Victoria (BC)
- Waterloo (ON)
- Winnipeg (MB)
๐ Sports
Hockey
- List of All Teams: Post on /c/hockey
- General Community: /c/Hockey
- Calgary Flames
- Edmonton Oilers
- Montrรฉal Canadiens
- Ottawa Senators
- Toronto Maple Leafs
- Vancouver Canucks
- Winnipeg Jets
Football (NFL)
- List of All Teams:
unknown
Football (CFL)
- List of All Teams:
unknown
Baseball
- List of All Teams:
unknown - Toronto Blue Jays
Basketball
- List of All Teams:
unknown - Toronto Raptors
Soccer
- List of All Teams:
unknown - General Community: /c/CanadaSoccer
- Toronto FC
๐ป Universities
๐ต Finance / Shopping
- Personal Finance Canada
- BAPCSalesCanada
- Canadian Investor
- Buy Canadian
- Quebec Finance
- Churning Canada
๐ฃ๏ธ Politics
- Canada Politics
- General:
- By Province:
๐ Social and Culture
Rules
Reminder that the rules for lemmy.ca also apply here. See the sidebar on the homepage:
founded 3 years ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
What stood out to me in the article was the disingenuous quote from the Oil & Gas industry saying that tax breaks arenโt subsidies because they are part of the tax system.
Those familiar with the tax system and public finance will be aware that Finance Canada has published a list of Federal Tax Expenditures and their value for a long time. Thereโs even a distinct section for fossil fuels.
Tax subsidies are subsidies.
Man, that table is a nightmare to try and make sense of. I'm not an accountant, so it likely makes more sense to someone with experience in the field, but I can't even pull out an approximate number for how much it costs the government in reduced taxes from that table.
Still wild that we subsidize a sector so heavily, especially when its so harmful to the planet.
Not to mention so incredibly profitable already.
It's so bizarre when we could be taxing them and using the tax money to reduce our reliance on them. Though that should have started fifty years ago.
Ah, so that was part of the plan Peter Lougheed used as a platform to wrest control of Alberta from the Socreds 50 years ago, then? I know it was an impressive plan, and I worry his party has accomplished none of its goals since then, but while I know reducing tariffs on oil exports was in the plan, I'm not sure whether taxing them provincially was part of it.
Not sure about what was going on in Alberta that long ago but I recall they toyed with the idea of not being doormats for a bit before deciding they preferred to be stepped on.
That's the thing about allowing democracy to decide what is subsidized: Everyone votes for the way things currently are, so the biggest employers and most profitable firms keep getting bigger, while the genuine startups and experimental new things are screwed over because very few people currently make a living off of them.