Source: Fightback

A new poll released in August by the Broadbent Institute shows a leftward shift in public opinion coming out of the financial hardship and dislocation caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The poll found that 89 per cent of Canadians support a wealth tax to pay for social services and the recovery from the pandemic, up from 79 per cent in November. The poll also found 87 per cent support a tax on “excessive corporate profits” during the pandemic, up from 68 per cent in November.

Rising public sentiment to make the rich pay comes on the heels of increasing inequality. As of 2016, the top 10 per cent of families own 56.4 per cent of the wealth in Canada, the top 20 per cent own 73.5 per cent, while the bottom 40 per cent only own 1.2 per cent of wealth. During the pandemic, the parasitic capitalists increased their wealth by $78 billion while workers, youth, and seniors bore the brunt of job losses, health risks, and deaths. Globally, the rich have made 3.9 trillion USD during the pandemic, while workers lost $3.7 trillion in wages.

Rising cost of living keeping people up at night

The recent Broadbent poll also found that Canadians rate cost of living as a top priority more than any other issue. In fact, respondents cited money, taxes, and housing as a bigger issue keeping them up at night more than COVID-19! Cost of living was cited as the biggest election issue, followed by health care and housing affordability. Young people were hit hardest by job losses in the pandemic, so unsurprisingly the poll found that 92 per cent of 18-29 year-olds are worried about their cost of living rising. Almost three quarters of millennials see cost of living as the most important issue in the upcoming election

One out of three, the equivalent of 10 million Canadians, say that their household budget and income has gotten worse during the pandemic. This in the context of more than 50 per cent of the population living paycheque to paycheque before the pandemic, coupled with spiking inflation in essential commodities for workers such as food and housing. Forty-two per cent say their ability to save for retirement has gotten worse over the past two years. That number goes up to 51 percent of those whose household income is less than $50,000. Forty-one per cent say their feelings of stress about money have gotten worse over the past two years. That number goes up to 44 per cent for those 18-29, and 47 per cent for those whose household incomes are less than $50,000.

What is to be done?

The responses to the survey show that Canadians overwhelmingly think left-wing policies would improve the situation, if those policies were only on offer. Ninety-three per cent said expanding public health care to cover dental, prescriptions, and home care would help; 95 per cent said we need to ensure everyone has a stable job with a decent wage; and 93 per cent think forcing companies to reduce the cost of products or services like banking fees, wireless bills, insurance rates, and electricity costs would help. A further 91 per cent agreed that making childcare more affordable would improve affordability of life, 88 per cent support raising the minimum wage, 90 per cent support reducing tuition fees, 90 per cent support improving public transit, and 77 per cent felt that making it easier for workers to unionize and bargain for higher wages would be helpful. These are all demands that would improve the lives of working class Canadians that socialists support and fight tooth and nail for. However, the question arises, how do we bring about these improvements?

Unemployment and low wages are inherent to capitalism. The Broadbent Institute, which commissioned the survey, was founded by former NDP leader, Ed Broadbent. This raises the question, why were socialism and nationalization not mentioned? The majority of Canadians support socialism. So why no questions about nationalization, socialism, public ownership, or workers’ control?

While Marxists agree wholeheartedly that the rich, not the working class and poor, should pay for the pandemic recovery, is a wealth tax the solution? The capitalist class sees that the widening chasm between the rich and the poor pushes people in a revolutionary direction. The idea of a wealth tax may be supported in principle by some of their class as an attempt to cut across that. Every capitalist wants their competitors to pay more taxes, higher wages, etc. For example, Warren Buffett and Bill Gates have come out and said the rich should pay more in taxes. However, you can be sure that as individual capitalists, they will use every trick in the book to avoid paying taxes themselves. The fact is, the rich pay nothing, or next to nothing, in taxes–including Buffett himself. 

The same survey found that 62 per cent of Canadians feel that the tax system is unfair. But this unfairness isn’t a flaw that has been overlooked; it’s an inherent design of the system. In a separate survey of auditors and tax professionals at the Canada Revenue Agency, 90 per cent agreed with the statement “It is easier for corporations and wealthy individuals to evade and/or avoid tax responsibilities than it is for average Canadians,” and more than 80 per cent agreed that “tax credits, tax exemptions, and tax loopholes disproportionately benefit corporations and wealthy Canadians compared to average Canadians.” Therein lies the weakness of plans to tax the rich. As we have explained elsewhere, when capitalists are taxed, they stash their hoards of cash in offshore tax havens rather than invest.
The wealth exists in society to provide for the needs of working people, such as guaranteed jobs with good wages, expanded and vastly improved health care, free cell phone and internet service, child care, postsecondary education and public transit. The hoard of uninvested money in Canada is now $1.66 trillion. Why should the rich get richer while everyone else suffers? The working class creates all the wealth in society, but the problem is we do not control that wealth. We agree the rich should pay. But to truly make life affordable, we need to nationalize the top corporations and banks under workers’ control. Only then can we truly direct investment in society to the needs of the vast majority.