More and more people are discovering they are 'rich' in the eyes of Liberals

financialpost.com:

I recently had a quick chat with a young friend of mine who works in the public sector and leans heavily left, so we often get into friendly but lively debates about tax and economic policy. The topic d’jour, of course, was the proposed capital gains inclusion rate increase.

Overly simplified, his comment was that the result of the proposal would be that instead of the rich “eating caviar,” they might have to eat something less expensive. Another person, who also works in the same public-sector industry, chimed in and said the rich would still be able to sit on their “piles of cash,” but they’d have a little bit less.

Comments such as these drive me crazy. I started my rebuttal by asking them if they knew how much the “rich” paid in overall personal tax revenues. Neither of them knew, so I quickly provided the following 2021 statistics:

The reaction is usually consistent when I list the above statistics: most are surprised that the average incomes are that low for certain groups. In addition, there is often a recognition that a very small group of rich people pay a large and disproportionate amount of tax. Yes, that is what happens when you have a progressive taxation system such as Canada’s.

I’m in favour of a progressive taxation system, but if the asks become too much, there will obviously be negative behavioural reactions. Those reactions include a large number of rich — and even not so rich — Canadians leaving the country. It was recently announced that the emigration of Canadians to the United States has reached a 10-year high. That’s not surprising since I’ve been ringing this alarm bell for years.

With the above statistics in mind, you should easily be able to appreciate that it doesn’t take many losses in the