Hiding economic data and the basis on which predictions are made is bad for confidence and makes it harder for anyone to challenge the decisions made by government. The Pirate Party will ensure that information that aids analysis and planning, like the Treasury’s economic models, are available to anyone via the Internet or at request.
To reduce tax evasion, we will aim to increase penalties for engaging in schemes aimed at evading tax unlawfully. The penalty for tax evasion should be sufficiently punitive that getting caught once outweighs the benefits of having engaged in evasion over a period of years.
We will promote micro-business as a driver for innovation and competition in the Canadian economy. A micro-business is a very small business with a single owner and no employees, one with a turnover of less than $2500/year. The first $1500 of income earned from micro-business would be tax free, nor would the income from such an operation have an impact on benefits.
Taxation should be fair to the taxpayer. Those earning the least should not only pay a smaller amount of money
in tax, but should always have a lower marginal tax rate than those earning more than they do. That marginal tax rate should apply to all taxes on income, whether from employment, investments or other instruments.
We would aim to simplify the tax system to ensure that the tax system is as fair as possible. We want everyone to keep as much of the money that they earn as we can, but it is vital that it is the impact of taxation that is fair, not simply the amounts involved.