Finley targets younger Canadians with pitch to cut public pension benefits

Response to ELI

- February 23, 2012 at 12:22:30

ELI siad : ""The woods are full" of paracites who invest offshore. Their motive is avoiding taxes. Period! Canada could invest billions in OAS if we didn't waste so much money "offshore" in stupid civil wars."...................Paracites?!?....the paracites are the unskilled uneducated workers who think there are worth more than minimum wage, and those who lobby the government for a higher minimum wage.....why would I invest in Canada when I am forced to pay unskilled workers $10/hour. Like it or not, there is nothing that an unskilled uneducated worker that is worth $10/hour. IN the US, I pay just over $7, and then the state governments give me a subsidy to make it even cheaper, just to say thanks for creating jobs. And further, I don't invest offshore to avoid taxes, I resent that comment Every dollar that I make offshore is taxed by the Canadian government as a capital gain. Think about it.....it is cheaper to hire unskilled uneducated foreign workers in a foreign country, and then pay excessive taxes on the profits instead of hiring Canadians...clearly Canadian unskilled workers are priced too high....I would be a fool to pay more for them. I have paid more taxes in 1 year than people have in their life time. As for the offshore wars, I support many of them and regard those offshore wars as being far more important than providing OAS to everyone. There are some people in this country, typically the unskilled and uneducated who have contributed very little to our tax base who should be the first to get their OAS cut. This system where everyone pays taxes into the system but those who pay the most end up getting the least is why people invest offshore (companies, stocks, currency) and do what they can, legally, to keep their money our of the broken system. As someone who pays 7 figures in taxes, am I not entitled to a bigger slice of OAS than the high school drop out who earnings, not taxes paid but earnings, don't come near 7 figures.....Investing offshore is not about avoiding taxes, it is about allowing people to reap the rewards of their activities.

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I agree with the government on this one

- February 22, 2012 at 13:40:08

After careful consideration, I agree with the government on this one. The system is broken, and will crash if we do nothing. TO those who comment about seniors are in poverty, ask yourself where the hell are their children. It should be families taking care of their own, not taxapyers. I know that my parents will take the OAS when the retire because their paid for it and are entitled to it, but thanks to education, I make lots of money and I can take care of them if needed. Where are the children of these seniors in poverty? Are the high school dropout who are unemployed? if so, TOO BAD. What is disgusing is that there are children who are not taking care of their parents. This is why I invest in offshore operations.....to protect my assets from being depleted to take care of other people's parents...the government is right on this one folks. cuts need to happen, and the cuts need to be deep.

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  Eli

  - February 22, 2012 at 19:26:20

  "The woods are full" of paracites who invest offshore. Their motive is avoiding taxes. Period! Canada could invest billions in OAS if we didn't waste so much money "offshore" in stupid civil wars.

Townie

- February 21, 2012 at 17:02:33

Starting a fight about a nonexistent problem tells me that the Federal Government members must have sever mental problems. In an article by Paul Sparkes several weeks ago it was mentioned that an airplane ticket in 1970 cost $101 and the same ticket today would cost $800. In 2030 the OAS will be much higher than today or poorer seniors will not be able to live this is a fact which can not be changed. Fighting a phoney battle to put in place a reduction which will be meanless in 20 years is idiotic.

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mom

- February 21, 2012 at 15:40:29

I think young people should think about how they would live on about $500 a month and be very wary of supporting changes that may be detrimental to all Canadians. It is hard for most people to save for retirement with the cost of living today. Retirement may seem a long way off for young people, but old age security is a right that our seniors have earned by their contribution to this country. We all pay taxes to support these programs. When we look at the poverty that is currently endured by our seniors how can we consider cost saving measurements that will negatively impact future seniors. This is the most vulnerable time in their lives when they are no longer able to work and are depending on our social safety net.

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