The Rich Want You to Fear Tax Fairness

The wealthy have all sorts of tools at their disposal to protect and grow their wealth at the expense of the rest of us, including the tax system. A few months ago, Canada’s Liberal government announced a [modest change](https://www.canada.ca/en/department-finance/news/2024/06/government-of-canada-delivering-tax-fairness-for-every-generation.html) that would try to rebalance the scales a bit, raising the country’s capital gains inclusion rate from 50 percent to 67 percent. Predictably, the rich went nuts and warned it would tear the country apart.

In an interview with David Moscrop, Jim Stanford, economist and director of the Centre for Future Work, discusses his new [report](https://centreforfuturework.ca/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Capital-Gains-Chartbook.pdf), which shows how preexisting capital gains policies benefit the wealthy and exacerbate inequality. He also explains that the fearmongering surrounding the change was, at best, misguided and suggests further reforms that would level the playing field even more.