Sometimes one has to wonder why any investor would bother to park his money in Canada these days. In the case of a particular parliamentary committee looking at food prices, the solution being offered to rising prices is to hit competitors with higher taxes. I’m sure that will make food prices go down, right?
If Canada’s Competition Bureau finds that grocery store giants are profiting excessively from food inflation, the federal government should consider slapping a windfall tax on those excess profits.
Rather than condemn such a ludicrous idea, the milquetoasts at the Retail Council of Canada had this to say:
“While we welcome the collaborative tone of the report, we would caution against increased government intervention in the operational aspects of the retail food business.”
“D.T. Cochrane, an economist with Canadians for Tax Fairness, said profit margins in the grocery industry almost doubled during the COVID-19 pandemic, which began in early 2020, from the level they were at for most of the past 20 years.”
I’d like Cochrane to show his work. Especially since he works for an organization that advocates for higher taxes…
No pb, Librano$ will pretend to do something, like create some extra dept to over-watch/supervise price and profits. Headed by some special appointee chosen by Dear Leader himself. And the big players (who btw donate to same Liberal coffers every time) will pretend to play ball. And there will be a couple of media events where theTurd, Freeland etc do some kumbaya for the success of the initiative. And everyone will be happy.
An economically illiterate government. Profit margins aren’t especially high by historic standards, but they are high compared to the U.S. However…
o High profit margins attracts competition.
o Competition leads to lower prices.
And…
o Government limits on profits discourage competition.
o Lack of competition leads to higher prices.
KM, agreed. Our federal government may indeed be economically illiterate as you suggest, but Canada is a petrodollar. Our economy rises and sinks with the value of oil. It’s our principal export, and everyone everywhere needs petroleum and its byproducts. I agree with you about the effect of government protection. We see this clearly in the telecommunications sector. Canada’s three major companies have a government-guaranteed oligopoly over the entire Canadian market for telephone, television, internet. So Canadians pay absurdly high rates for all of these things compared to any other advanced industrial nation.
“Advanced industrial nation”?
I’m currently in Mexico, where I can get a pay-as-you-go phone plan miles better than the most premium Canadian plans for about $15CAD a month. I lost count of the number of distinct cell phone/Internet vendors here after fifteen.
I can see some validity in the argument that Canada has unique challenges – we have a very small number of people, not very densely distributed, spread across extremely long distances. But the majority of the price gouging we get today comes from the Big Three owning the CRTC lock, stock and barrel.
One might look and see that in certain cases, 26 cents of every dollar goes to government revenue in the form of taxes, while 4 cents of every dollar is net profit, and then wonder how much of that 4 cents the government wants (the usual answer being all of it)
Unfortunately a sizeable chunk of the electorate buys into the “evil businesses profiteering” narrative.
A week ago a woman told my wife “The government has to do something! (about food prices) “But It’s because of the government ‘doing somethings’ that we’re in this mess.” my missus replied … to a puzzled stare.
Correct response from the Missus there, Jamie.
When the only answer is the government has to do something.. Its over.. Cater to everybody with a shiny new business plan that always ends with monopolies for your friends.. A big RUSH to control and censor information before the people notice?..
Catering to concepts and politics.. Defunding your opponents.. Banning better products and ideas.. All to save the world or maybe to ensure a bumper crop.. Into the volcano you go..
Its not that we are dumb or that we don’t know its a bunch of BS.. Its just that very few have the notion to do the math and even fewer have the balls to stand up.. Into the volcano they go..
It is a good thing here in canuckistan that all of our problems can be solved by implementing another tax. Whew. This is the stupidest country on earth.
Dont worry , our Brave Young Turd will come to the rescue and tax ALL foods across the board and give the poorest of us some form of an EBT SNAP stamps like our Yankee friends.
Much like a Gay Robin Hood, stealing from the ” rich ” to give crumbs to the poor.
i wonder if I might be able to buy steaks with those food stamps or its gotta be bugz only.
Just like compound interest which makes your capital grow exponentially,
Compound Carbon tax works the same.
The farmer pays carbon tax on everything he does and purchases like fuel, fertilizer, machinery, drying grain etc. which all have a Carbon tax when he purchases or uses these, then
He adds that to his produce like wheat, barley etc when he sells to a millar,
Then the millar who grinds the grain has to pay a carbon tax for his energy to make flour, and adds that to the cost of his flour when selling it to a bakery,
Then the baker who has carbon tax for the energy of his ovens gets tacked on to the price of a loaf of bread which is finally sold to a consumer.
All through this process the raw goods are being transported from one entity to the other with diesel powered trucks which are subject to a carbon tax and this all gets lopped on to the product.
So just like compound interest that grows your capital exponentially on the original capital, the compounding carbon tax adds wealth to the government.
Go figure,, I wonder if this has anything to do with making groceries anymore expensive at the check out counter.
Plus unlike the GST, the different levels do not get to recoup the taxes paid in the different levels.
GST payments on items used to create or be resold are recoverable at the different levels. This is supposed to prevent the tax from being an extra burden to the final user level. There should not be a tax on a tax.
On fuel, there is tax on tax on tax. Provincial and Federal fuel taxes are added prior to GST calculations.
I have seen the same breathtaking stupidity in the Municipal Government. A citizen group will come in and complain about the speeding on or in their neighborhood. The council response is invariably to reduce the speed limit, not nail the speeders.
It takes a special level of stupid to think or believe that a tax will lower the price of anything. Get rid of the communists in this country and things will improve. The liberals are communists.
Would these be the same companies found to be fixing the price of bread over the past almost 20 years?
https://torontosun.com/news/local-news/mandel-billion-dollar-class-action-wins-go-ahead-against-alleged-nationwide-bread-price-fixing
Nothing effs up the works like penalizing success.
I could get behind the idea of special taxes on Rolexes, bespoke suits and BMWs.
https://proudtobecanadian.ca/jagmeet-singh-has-two-rolexes-drives-a-bmw-went-to-american-private-school-bernie-sanders-gave-1-to-charity/
What about the collusion of oil giants to fix the price of gas, oil, petrol products?
Gov breaks everything it comes in contact with.
It would eff up a rock fight.
How much clout does this retail council have with the milk board?
Are they still pouring milk on the ground?
As if the “Retail Council” gives a flying _uc_ about anyone not lining their coffers.