The City of Saint John recently released a study they had completed looking at the property tax system that makes some interesting recommendations most notable for a significant rise in taxation of heavy industry, the assessment of equipment and machinery…
Continue ReadingChasing Amazon? May I suggest you consider Facebook instead?
The competition to attract Amazon H2 and its 50,000 jobs is reaching a fevered pitch. Some experts have suggested the total value of the incentive deal will reach $5 billion ($100k per job) or more. Amazon has even stated that it…
Continue ReadingWe need more investment: A lament for Energy East (?)
One of the reasons why the New Brunswick economy has been so draggy in recent years has been the lack of big scale capital expenditures. For the better part of 30 years, starting with the Confederation Bridge, at any…
Continue ReadingA possible tax reform solution: Tighten the rules around equivalency
From the start the federal government has couched the issue of tax reform around fairness. Why should two people earning the same income and doing the same work pay different levels of tax just because one uses a corporation to…
Continue ReadingThe Amazon headquarters sweepstakes: It’s fun to play!
Why would someone buy lottery tickets every week, week in, week out for years – even decades? They know intuitively the chance of them winning the big one is infinitesimal but they get out there every week. In fact, the…
Continue ReadingThe power of giving your time to causes that matter
Maybe it’s because I studied under a bunch of Libertarian professors in university but I have never been comfortable with the idea that government should have the exclusive right to try and solve all of society’s challenges. A couple of…
Continue ReadingCry havoc, and let slip the dogs of entrepreneurship!
I had a conversation recently with someone who thought we could learn from China as with think about economic development in Atlantic Canada. He was an admirer of all the state intervention, planning, the 20-year plans to be the world…
Continue ReadingThink Big. It is time for a little more ambition across the Maritimes
You might have heard that Amazon is shopping around a 50,000 person head office to U.S. and Canadian jurisdictions with one million or more in population. It is easily the largest single firm economic development project shopped around like…
Continue ReadingPitchforks protecting Plutocrats? Don’t mess with the entrepreneurial risk premium.
I’m fascinated by how the proposed federal tax changes meant to “level the playing field” and “ensure that the richest 1% of Canadians pay their fair share of taxes” is playing out in the media and in the public at…
Continue ReadingHave you seen the Merv and Cook Show? An idea to boost our productivity.
As I have written about here many times New Brunswick does have a productivity challenge. We have to be a little careful we talk about productivity because different industries have different mixes of labour, capital and technology so comparing…
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