To become a truly self-sufficient province, which needs to change first: the environment within which we operate or our individual behaviours? Which has a greater impact on the rate of development?
When I first started working in Zambia, I think I had decided that the people needed to change. This was never truly a conscious decision, but one that I recognized so many years later. You have to remember, my exposure to realities different from my own had been limited until that time, and I naively believed that if people just worked hard enough, if they just had the right skills, the right level of motivation, they should succeed. I've since learned that this is not always the case, and that there are other factors that contribute toward a person's level of self-sufficiency. A book I read, 'Women Don't Ask', talks about the importance of women becoming more aware of their worth, and more assertive when demanding fair compensation for work they've performed. But that's only one side of the equation. The book proceeds to talk about the need for the environment to change, to be more conducive to a woman's way of doing things.
I think some parallels can be drawn to the situation here in NB. For instance, our youth can graduate from high school and then from college or university. They've invested in gaining skills and knowledge and should be poised to be productive members of society in NB. Only problem - there aren't enough jobs to keep them here. The opposite reality is true for places like Alberta. There are too many jobs and not enough people qualified to fill them. I feel that the first step to fixing this problem is recognizing that there is one. Once we admit to ourselves that the environment in NB has not yet reached its full potential in terms of being able to offer opportunities, then we can create some strategies to get us there. In the meantime, our people must continue to invest in their own personal development, and at times, create their own opportunities.
Looking forward to hearing your thoughts.
Sunday, December 21, 2008
Saturday, December 6, 2008
Taxes in NB
So I'm here in NB, trying to soak up everything I can about our province and the challenges it faces to becoming more self-sufficient. I came across an article in the Telegraph Journal that I want to bring up for discussion. Tax reform. My background, educational and experiential, does not place me in a position to comment on this with much authority. What my background has prepared me to do, though, is be able to ask questions. And I have a few about some tax reform proposals made by a committee studying changes to NB's tax structure. This committee recommended the following adjustments:
1. increase HST rate
2. reduce provincial corporate tax rate
3. implement a flat income tax rate
4. no carbon tax
Let's take a look at the justifications for these suggestions. Number 2, for instance. Provincial corporate income tax is the tax levied by the province on profits made by companies. Ottawa has challenged provinces to reduce their provincial corporate tax rate to 10% - the same as Alberta and the lowest in the country. The view is that we would be able to attract more industry if our tax was lower. After some digging, I discovered that NB already has the lowest provincial corporate tax rate in Atlantic Canada (NS & PEI: 16%, NfLd: 14%). I started wondering about the pros and cons of matching Alberta's tax rate. Are the two provinces regularly vying to attract the same industries? Should we be using Alberta as a benchmark? What about understanding who our true competitors are? If we look at Atlantic Canada, then we've already met the challenge. Maybe lower corporate tax rates are not the only factors we need to consider when understanding our competitive advantage. How about labour force? Other forms of industry incentives?
On to Number 3 - the flat income tax rate of 10%. This means that everyone, regardless of their income, would pay 10% in income tax. There would be provisions (such as rebates for people who already pay less than 10% income tax) that would attempt to protect low income earners (if you want to read about for/against arguments of flat tax, check out Wikipedia). Since the province would be collecting less money in income tax, it needs to find that money somewhere else. Thus, Number 1 – increased HST. Although the exact increase wasn’t mentioned, Number 4 – no carbon tax – means that the boost to HST might have to be greater. The committee stated that the carbon tax would negatively affect NB’s competitive advantage due to our large reliance on oil for electricity. Hmmm…to me this means that we should probably work toward reducing our dependence on fossil fuels instead of removing incentives.
These are just some thoughts I wanted to share and hopefully start some discussion. Let me know what you think.
1. increase HST rate
2. reduce provincial corporate tax rate
3. implement a flat income tax rate
4. no carbon tax
Let's take a look at the justifications for these suggestions. Number 2, for instance. Provincial corporate income tax is the tax levied by the province on profits made by companies. Ottawa has challenged provinces to reduce their provincial corporate tax rate to 10% - the same as Alberta and the lowest in the country. The view is that we would be able to attract more industry if our tax was lower. After some digging, I discovered that NB already has the lowest provincial corporate tax rate in Atlantic Canada (NS & PEI: 16%, NfLd: 14%). I started wondering about the pros and cons of matching Alberta's tax rate. Are the two provinces regularly vying to attract the same industries? Should we be using Alberta as a benchmark? What about understanding who our true competitors are? If we look at Atlantic Canada, then we've already met the challenge. Maybe lower corporate tax rates are not the only factors we need to consider when understanding our competitive advantage. How about labour force? Other forms of industry incentives?
On to Number 3 - the flat income tax rate of 10%. This means that everyone, regardless of their income, would pay 10% in income tax. There would be provisions (such as rebates for people who already pay less than 10% income tax) that would attempt to protect low income earners (if you want to read about for/against arguments of flat tax, check out Wikipedia). Since the province would be collecting less money in income tax, it needs to find that money somewhere else. Thus, Number 1 – increased HST. Although the exact increase wasn’t mentioned, Number 4 – no carbon tax – means that the boost to HST might have to be greater. The committee stated that the carbon tax would negatively affect NB’s competitive advantage due to our large reliance on oil for electricity. Hmmm…to me this means that we should probably work toward reducing our dependence on fossil fuels instead of removing incentives.
These are just some thoughts I wanted to share and hopefully start some discussion. Let me know what you think.
Listening to myself
I'm starting to realize that there's a lot of noise here in Canada. And I don't mean loud, intrusive noise. I mean the kind of noise that is constantly buzzing in your mind, disrupting your focus. The noise that subtly drowns your own personal thoughts and feelings, that sweeps you up in the current of what's happening around you. When I came back from Zambia in June, I felt as though I had attained a level of quiet conviction. Spending three years with people who define success a bit differently, where the distractions of constant access to virtual reality are limited, gave me the opportunity to listen to my own voice.Because of all the walking I did, all the social interactions I had, all the instances where I had to question my reactions, I came to know myself quite well. And with knowing yourself comes a certain amount of peace and self-assurance. The true test though (as I've recently discovered) is to maintain this peace within the noise. Does anyone have ways they're able to continue listening to themselves without being swept away by society's current?
Certain aspirations for NB
Last week, while attending a workshop on financial analysis (surprisingly interesting!) in Fredericton, I had the chance to meet with a retired NB politician. I was curious to hear his views on NB's progress toward sustainability...He believes that NB should invest in becomnig a leader in knowledge. This would involve creating a world class training institution that would attract people from all over the globe and teach them the skills needed to meet the demand for trades people in Alberta. He feels that our main competitive advantage is cheap living costs compared to the rest of North America, and that this will be enough to entice people to move here to obtain their post-secondary education. I asked him if this was truly a move toward self-sufficiency, given that the college would still depend on provincial funding to operate (funding that would probably be obtained from the federal gov't)? He assured me that private investors (Shell, Exon, etc.) would cover the capital costs and that the gov't would only need to contribute a small amount in the following years. When asked about job creation here in NB - since most of these people would be prepped and groomed to leave our province for work - I was told that the college itself would provide a large number of employment opportunities. I left the meeting impressed by the politician's enthusiasm, but wary of his vision. I qusetioned whether creating jobs for professors was actually a reflection of the true challenges faced by our province...Love to hear your thoughts..
The NB I don't know
It's been a while since I've written. This is due to a couple of reasons. First, my return to Zambia kept me busy for the month of October (there will be plenty of upcoming notes about that!), and secondly, I've just started a new job with a community economic development agency in my region of NB, Enterprise Fundy. My position title is Youth Entrepreneurship Development Officer, and I'll be working with people between 18 and 35 who are looking to start or expand their business. It's an unbelievable opportunity, one I'm truly excited about. I'm learning so much about the place where I grew up. It's as though I'm seeing everything through a different lens these days. One of these discoveries makes reference to the title of this note. Last week, I traveled to Petitcodiac, a village about 25 km east of Sussex whose main industry, a sawmill, closed last year. I met with a teacher and some local business owners to disucss the situation in their area. I learned that the school in Peti has started a breakfast program for the kids. This seemed unnecessary. Did an entire school in NB - in Canada for that matter?? - really need to offer free food to the students? My naivete was completely apparent. The teacher said that it helped a lot of kids perform better in class. Was this need there when I was in high school? I began to think about my exposure to my surroundings in high school and realized that it had been pretty limited. I feel as though a lot of people (including myself) are unaware of the actual realities in our province. And what is systematically wrong that it results in a Western government needing to provide free food to its youth? Just a few questions that I had over the weekend. Please feel free to send me your thoughts....I feel as though I'm moving forward...
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