Western Standard - April 06, 2023


April 1st Tax and 2023 Budget insights with Terrazzano

Topics
alcohol taxes carbon tax redistribution carbon tax and budget 2023 inflation tax
Mentioned
Corey Justin Trudeau Franco Teresano Bombardier Derek Zoom
MPC Daily Market Update Apr 5, 2023 Twitter CEO Elon Musk slams BBC reporter in surprise interview

Episode Stats


Length

14 minutes

Words per minute

189.84

Word count

2,714

Sentence count

180

Harmful content

Toxicity

1

sentences flagged

Hate speech

1

sentences flagged


Summary

Summaries generated with gmurro/bart-large-finetuned-filtered-spotify-podcast-summ .

Francois Tarrazzano, the Canadian Director of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, joins us to talk about the new federal budget, the carbon tax, and the proposed increase in alcohol taxes. He also talks about why the government should not be raising taxes at all.

Transcript

Transcript generated with Whisper (turbo).
Toxicity classifications generated with s-nlp/roberta_toxicity_classifier .
Hate speech classifications generated with facebook/roberta-hate-speech-dynabench-r4-target .
Topics generated with Qwen2.5-3B-Instruct.
Hosts, guests, and mentioned names generated with spaCy (en_core_web_sm), reconciled against Wikidata.
00:00:00.000 It's Franco Tarrazzano, the Canadian Director of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation.
00:00:04.060 How's it going out there, Franco?
00:00:05.600 Corey, it's swampy here in the nation's swamp.
00:00:08.620 How are you?
00:00:09.520 Oh, I'm doing well, you know, but I mean, even if I'm distant from the nation's swamp,
00:00:12.940 I still get to pay the bills for it.
00:00:14.640 So I might as well get you to come in and tell us what we're paying for this year.
00:00:17.900 With the new budget and with April 1st hitting,
00:00:21.160 we got all sorts of new stuff to look forward to funding, huh?
00:00:24.280 Oh, we sure do.
00:00:25.180 And you know what you're paying for?
00:00:26.680 Higher member of parliament pay.
00:00:28.760 Yeah, you heard that right, folks.
00:00:30.500 April 1st, the insult injury for taxpayers,
00:00:33.580 because on the same day they take more money from your wallet,
00:00:36.820 they stuffed more money into their own wallets.
00:00:39.820 April 1st, we saw alcohol taxes go up, the carbon tax go up,
00:00:44.300 and members of parliament took their fourth, one, two, three, four pay raise
00:00:48.920 since the beginning of the pandemic.
00:00:50.560 Members of parliament, the raise was about $5,100 for a back venture,
00:00:54.720 all the way up to an extra $10,200 for prime minister Justin Trudeau.
00:00:59.500 So look, these guys, a back venture is making about $194,000 now.
00:01:04.780 They don't need a raise, and they certainly don't deserve a raise.
00:01:09.100 Yeah, and you're going to pay a little more to try and drink and comfort yourself with it.
00:01:13.120 I mean, I do want to point out, though, a bit of, I think, a taxpayer advocacy success story
00:01:17.740 with that, in a sense, at least.
00:01:19.060 I mean, damage was mitigated.
00:01:20.520 The alcohol tax was supposed to go up a lot more than it did,
00:01:23.820 and at least with some good lobbying from the breweries and others,
00:01:26.980 the government did back off and bring it down to only 2%, I believe, wasn't it?
00:01:31.400 Yeah, 2%, a 2% increase.
00:01:33.460 I mean, the Canadian Taxpayers Federation and our supporters deserve a lot of credit here, too,
00:01:37.040 because they were emailing, they were calling, they were hammering these politicians,
00:01:40.520 and we essentially forced them to back down from a 6.3% tax hike.
00:01:46.280 You know, I know we'll get into the budget in a second here,
00:01:48.740 but isn't it just sad that essentially the best thing in the budget for taxpayers
00:01:52.760 was that the federal government wasn't going to hike its alcohol tax as much as it wanted, right?
00:01:58.920 And wanted to hike alcohol taxes by 6.3%.
00:02:01.780 It ended up increasing taxes, but by 2%, so a little bit less.
00:02:05.960 That'll save Canadian taxpayers millions of dollars.
00:02:11.040 But here's the thing that your people need to know, Corey.
00:02:14.420 Every time you go pick up that case of Canadian, you're paying about 50% in tax.
00:02:20.880 You go pick up that bottle of Pinot to enjoy with your better half,
00:02:24.200 you're paying about 65% of that bottle in wine.
00:02:27.100 And every time you'd want to enjoy one of the hard stuff, you know, like the whiskeys, the vodkas, and rum,
00:02:32.220 you're already paying about three quarters plus of that bottle in tax.
00:02:37.240 And that's quite a waste.
00:02:39.040 And that puts a lot of pressure, and that's what some of the lobbying was.
00:02:41.560 I just like to point out once in a while, it reminds people, it's worth speaking up, though.
00:02:44.860 You can make them back off of it, because that was really harming the hospitality industry.
00:02:49.420 I mean, as a former pub owner, I know those margins are narrow,
00:02:53.060 and when you've got to keep raising your prices, your customers don't respond well.
00:02:56.200 And, Corey, like, let's remember that this isn't happening in a vacuum.
00:03:00.600 What just happened over the last two-plus years?
00:03:04.280 I mean, our tourism sector, our small businesses, your favorite restaurant or pub or brewery down the road,
00:03:09.440 was absolutely hammered by government lockdowns.
00:03:12.800 So it's not like these small businesses just have buckets of cash lying around
00:03:18.000 for the Trudeau government to continue to take more and more money from them.
00:03:22.240 And, of course, Canadians are tapped out as well.
00:03:24.460 Now, Corey, let's talk about the big tax that everyone is going to be feeling,
00:03:29.260 especially out there in your neck of the woods in Alberta, the carbon tax.
00:03:34.020 It went up again April 1.
00:03:36.300 It's going to cost the average Alberta family about $710 this year, even after the rebates.
00:03:43.800 But Trudeau is going to continue cranking up that carbon tax all the way through to 2030.
00:03:47.840 By 2030, the carbon tax will cost the average family about $2,700, even after the rebates.
00:03:56.540 Absolutely ridiculous.
00:03:57.940 Yeah, well, and that is a tax on everything. 0.70
00:04:02.020 And, I mean, that's one where there just hasn't been any success.
00:04:04.400 We've been pushing back hard on that tax for years now, and the government's just determined to keep raising it
00:04:10.400 and pushing forward with this tax.
00:04:12.940 But, I mean, something interesting that came out, I noticed I mentioned Gilboa earlier,
00:04:16.080 one of my favorite people on Parliament Hill.
00:04:18.360 But he kind of admitted, well, okay, so everybody's paying more than they're getting back, but it's mostly the rich.
00:04:24.520 So, I mean, apparently this is a wealth redistribution tax rather than an environmental saviour.
00:04:28.880 You know, Corey, two things on that.
00:04:31.960 Number one, a politician finally admitting what everyone already knew, right?
00:04:36.760 If you think that you can raise taxes, skim some off the top to pay for some new bureaucrats,
00:04:42.120 then somehow make everyone better off with rebates,
00:04:44.580 then I've got some Ocean View property in Lethbridge to sell you.
00:04:49.180 I mean, of course you can't do that.
00:04:51.100 The Parliamentary Budget Officer is showing that the government is using magic math to try to spin Canadians, right?
00:04:56.600 As I just mentioned, from the Parliamentary Budget Officer itself,
00:05:00.880 the carbon tax is costing the average Canadian seven, or the, sorry, the average family in Alberta $710 this year,
00:05:08.320 even after rebates.
00:05:09.300 That's a couple weeks of groceries for a struggling family that the government is taxing away.
00:05:14.920 Now, Corey, let's talk about that redistribution.
00:05:17.420 You know, I've heard a lot in the news about a redistribution from the wealthy to the poor,
00:05:22.860 but I don't think that's correct.
00:05:24.440 I don't think that's largely correct.
00:05:25.920 I think what we're actually seeing with the carbon tax is a redistribution from certain lifestyles to others, right?
00:05:33.560 Because there's going to be a lot of rich people out there who live off of their computer,
00:05:39.580 the Zoom class, who won't be paying as much in carbon tax as other Canadians, 0.85
00:05:45.160 who might be lower or middle class Canadians, who may be mechanics,
00:05:49.520 who might have to drive to work, right, who have to heat their homes with natural gas.
00:05:54.300 So I get the PBO's point, but I think what would be more accurate is to describe the carbon tax
00:06:01.700 as punishing certain lifestyles while punishing other lifestyles even more.
00:06:08.100 Yeah, and it punishes them, but it doesn't change them,
00:06:10.420 because if you're a mechanic who has to drive to the shop to work,
00:06:12.960 it doesn't change no matter how high that carbon tax goes.
00:06:15.660 Or if you own a home and you want to keep your family from freezing to death,
00:06:19.240 you have to pay for energy products to heat your home.
00:06:22.080 So it's not like it's something you can choose to escape.
00:06:25.640 Well, that's absolutely correct, right?
00:06:27.280 I mean, people who have to drive to work have to put gasoline or diesel in their car.
00:06:32.200 Truckers, by the way, who bring all of our food to the store,
00:06:35.280 they have to fuel up their big rigs with diesel.
00:06:39.080 So when you make it more expensive for a trucker to deliver the food to the store,
00:06:42.820 you make it more expensive for families to buy that food at the store.
00:06:46.160 Or what about farmers in Canada, right?
00:06:48.660 Well, they need natural gas or propane to dry grain.
00:06:52.780 Well, when you make it more expensive for farmers to produce the food,
00:06:55.340 you also make it more expensive for families to buy the food.
00:06:58.280 So now, when we hear about the carbon tax,
00:07:00.760 the government is essentially punishing you for the necessities in life.
00:07:05.360 So what happens?
00:07:06.780 Well, now families have less money in their pockets
00:07:09.540 to pay for their kids' education, for example.
00:07:12.400 Yeah, it hits us on every level.
00:07:16.580 I'm glad you guys continue to point that out.
00:07:18.540 So we might as well get to the true giant elephant in the room, though.
00:07:21.620 And that's that massive spending budget we got greeted with just a couple of weeks ago.
00:07:27.680 I guess it wasn't that unexpected, but boy, it's ugly.
00:07:31.640 Oh, it's really ugly.
00:07:32.760 So what is the government giving taxpayers?
00:07:34.560 More debt, more deficits, and higher taxes forever, essentially.
00:07:38.180 Look, I think with Budget 2023, it's safe to say that this government will never balance the budget.
00:07:44.380 They'll just never balance the budget.
00:07:45.860 Now, the one surprise is just how much they just don't care about fiscal responsibility or helping taxpayers.
00:07:54.300 Because remember, before the budget, you had Freeland, who was essentially saying,
00:07:58.300 well, don't worry, folks, this is going to be prudent.
00:08:00.340 You know, even during the budget, she said she'd be exercising restraint, they'd be saving money.
00:08:04.920 Corey, I don't know if these politicians understand this, but if you spend billions of dollars more every single year,
00:08:12.820 if you increase spending by $85 billion over a handful of years, you're saving money wrong.
00:08:20.700 Well, yeah, we can't do it that way.
00:08:22.880 I mean, that's some of that difference, right?
00:08:24.480 I mean, they're living on the credit cards, but at the same time, also what they can do is just kind of keep cranking out that monetary supply.
00:08:30.860 But then that leads to inflation and devaluation of our own currency.
00:08:34.400 I mean, your average system, unfortunately, I think, doesn't pay enough attention to that.
00:08:38.860 And, you know, the government keeps pointing, oh, it's the grocers that are messing with you or those greedy energy companies.
00:08:44.020 Well, no, your dollar is buying less.
00:08:46.340 And the government has a part in that.
00:08:49.100 Well, it also has a part in that with some of the groceries, too.
00:08:52.080 Let's not forget that the Trudeau government announced $12 million for Loblaw, right?
00:08:57.180 Like, let's not forget that the government continues to spend buckets of cash raising taxes on Canadians and handing buckets of cash to certain corporations.
00:09:06.700 So let's not forget that.
00:09:08.020 I mean, of course, we're against corporate welfare.
00:09:09.700 Corey, I know you're against corporate welfare.
00:09:11.860 You've held many politicians accountable on this show for corporate welfare.
00:09:15.960 And kudos to you for that.
00:09:17.320 But you're absolutely right.
00:09:18.740 Two ways the government is driving up the cost of living and including groceries.
00:09:22.320 We talked about one way, the never-ending carbon tax hikes, right?
00:09:27.160 You make it more expensive for farmers to make the food.
00:09:29.260 You make it more expensive for families to buy the food.
00:09:32.360 But then also, they make everything more expensive when they print money.
00:09:36.820 The central bank printed hundreds of billions of dollars, more than $300 billion, right out of thin air during the pandemic, largely by buying government of Canada debt.
00:09:46.960 That's using the printing press to finance Ottawa's out-of-control deficits.
00:09:51.680 Now, the problem is the central bank can print dollars right out of thin air, but it can't print ground beef out of thin air.
00:09:59.780 It can't print farmland out of thin air, and it can't print new condos out of thin air.
00:10:05.040 So you get this situation where you have too many dollars chasing too few goods, and that, ladies and gentlemen, is the inflation tax.
00:10:12.940 Well, and then as we go farther down, we know what the Bank of Canada responds with, and we've seen that, is raising interest rates.
00:10:21.000 And that affects things all the way down the line.
00:10:23.080 And the other area of the biggest wasteful spending that drives me bananas to watch is interest servicing our federal debt.
00:10:29.800 I mean, talk about flushing dollars down the toilet, and those numbers are getting staggering.
00:10:34.720 Staggering.
00:10:35.360 You know, I can't believe we're going to see this, but by 2027, Corey, we're talking about $50 billion just to cover the interest charges on the federal government credit card.
00:10:45.500 $50 billion one year on interest charges to cover the debt.
00:10:50.200 Now, this year, interest charges are going to be pretty high, man, $44 billion, okay?
00:10:56.340 That's a cost of $1,000 per person that we're not getting through better health care or, you know, better roads or lower taxes because that money, guess where it's going?
00:11:07.820 To the bond fund managers on Bay Street just to pay interest on the debt.
00:11:11.600 And while we're talking about the debt, this year, the government's debt will pass $1.2 trillion.
00:11:19.100 When Trudeau first came to power, the debt was about $616 billion, which means that over Trudeau's time, Trudeau will have nearly doubled the debt, the entire federal debt, by the end of this year.
00:11:35.180 Yeah, we can't maintain that spending trajectory much longer.
00:11:38.400 I mean, things have to crash, but I'll throw, you know, as we get to the tail end of this, the harder part, though, how can we stop this?
00:11:45.340 I mean, what can we do?
00:11:46.320 What can the government cut?
00:11:47.620 I mean, that's always the area.
00:11:48.780 Well, we're going to have to cut health care or policing or whatever if you want to cut any spending.
00:11:53.280 But I think there's probably a few areas they could cut that really wouldn't hurt the common Canadian that much.
00:11:57.720 Yeah, like maybe stop giving yourself pay raises.
00:12:01.220 That might help.
00:12:02.420 I mean, like, look, we're so far away from even talking about the big things that you just mentioned because there is so much fat everywhere.
00:12:09.920 I mean, you can barely walk downtown Ottawa without stepping on some government ways.
00:12:15.060 Okay, like we talked about the pay raises.
00:12:17.320 Here's one.
00:12:18.520 Vureaucrats last year, isn't this nice, gave themselves $200 million in bonuses when they can barely meet half of their own targets.
00:12:25.840 Corey, if you go to Derek and you say, hey, I haven't met half of my own targets this year, give me a bonus check.
00:12:32.200 He ain't going to give you a bonus check.
00:12:33.520 He's going to give you a boot somewhere.
00:12:34.860 Let me tell you that.
00:12:35.940 Oh, I got a private idea.
00:12:37.120 Let me go.
00:12:38.220 Yeah.
00:12:39.320 $6,000 a night in a hotel room.
00:12:41.600 Cut that.
00:12:42.440 You know, maybe stop giving beef Wellington and pork stuffed tenderloin to the governor general and their entourage every time they have to fly overseas.
00:12:49.660 We talked about the bonuses for those bureaucrats.
00:12:51.880 What about the pay raises on top of that, right?
00:12:54.060 More than 300,000 federal government employees received at least one raise during the pandemic.
00:12:59.900 We just got a PBO report out yesterday that shows that the cost to fund the bureaucracy increased by 31% over two years.
00:13:09.780 We talked about Loblaws, right?
00:13:11.300 The $12 million announced for them.
00:13:12.840 What about the $295 million announced for the Ford Motor Company?
00:13:16.200 What about the $372 million announced for Bombardier?
00:13:21.160 We still don't know how many billions of dollars the government is giving to Volkswagen.
00:13:25.820 So scrap the corporate welfare.
00:13:27.860 I mean, there is so much fat in Ottawa's budget that it's almost difficult to know where to start to cut.
00:13:35.380 But I've given you some examples there.
00:13:37.420 You certainly have.
00:13:38.140 And I know we can keep you for an hour and you can list a lot more.
00:13:40.540 But I do have to let you go.
00:13:42.560 So before you take off, where can people find information from your organization and how they can help holding this government to account?
00:13:51.020 Guys, check out taxpayer.com.
00:13:54.140 And hey, for all everyone watching right now, please do me a favor.
00:13:57.160 If you want to contact a member of parliament, pick up the phone, give them an email and say,
00:14:01.000 hey, why aren't you publicly speaking out against the pay raises?
00:14:05.200 I would love to hear what they say to you.
00:14:07.160 Yeah, when it comes to their own wallets, it's amazing how quiet they get.
00:14:11.960 Always great to have you on, Franco.
00:14:13.680 Thanks for the work you're doing.
00:14:14.960 And I'm sure we'll talk again soon.
00:14:17.060 Take care, Corey.