What Simon said

The CCPA's Simon Enoch takes on the Sask Party's push toward a flat tax:

Economic modeling of flat tax proposals in the United States demonstrates that flat tax proposals shift the tax burden predominantly to the middle class. Similar results have been identified in Alberta. In essence the middle class pays more and receives less, particularly as former exemptions and reductions are eliminated in the name of “simplicity.” Not exactly the model of “tax fairness” that flat tax proponents claim.

Of equal concern is the effect such a tax would have on income inequality. Saskatchewan is already experiencing growing income inequality as the CCPA’s Growing Gap Project demonstrates. Reducing the amount of tax that the richest among us pay would only exacerbate this troubling trend. The economic and social costs of reduced social cohesion that income inequality generates are immense. According to British epidemiologists Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett, the bigger the income gap, the worse the rates of mental illness, substance abuse, teen pregnancy, homicide, incarceration and reduced life expectancies. Conversely, more equal societies tend to display higher levels of trust, reduced levels of stress and greater attachment to community.