Ottawa

The popularity of taxing the rich

Further to this post last week, a new poll in Ontario finds massive support for a proposal of the province’s NDP.

Ontarians overwhelmingly favour NDP Leader Andrea Horwath’s proposal to raise taxes on people who earn more than $500,000 a year, a new poll suggests. Horwath has put forward the wealth surtax as one of her party’s conditions for supporting Liberal Premier Dalton McGuinty’s budget, which will be voted on next Tuesday.

More than three-quarters of people surveyed — 78 per cent — like her idea with only 17 per cent opposed and 5 per cent unsure, according to the Forum Research poll. “It’s hugely popular. You never see that — that’s huge,” Forum president Lorne Bozinoff said Wednesday.

Ms. Horwath would tax those earning more than $500,000 at a provincial rate of 13.16% (up from 11.6%).

There are no such proposals presently on offer at the federal level. During the NDP leadership race, Brian Topp proposed a tax rate of 35% for those earning over $250,000 and Nathan Cullen suggested a rate in the “low 30s” for anyone earning over $300,000 per year. Thomas Mulcair questioned the wisdom of those proposals.

Three years ago, the Bloc Quebecois suggested taxing those earning more than $150,000 an additional 1%.

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