Taxes April 6, 2010March 17, 2017 EAT (A LITTLE) CHOCOLATE EVERY DAY Tom Anthony: “According to a recent study by European governments, eating chocolate was associated with a 48% reduction in stroke risk and a 27% decrease in heart attacks. Chocolates, however, vary widely in their flavonoid content. To get the best health effects, alkali-treated chocolate, i.e. Dutch chocolate, should be avoided as this particular chocolate has been treated with alkalis to remove its bitterness and unfortunately many of its flavonoids. Note, for example, that Hershey’s DARK alkalized cocoa has much less flavonoid content than their regular cocoa. . . . The regular inexpensive baking cocoa at most supermarkets is natural cocoa and is what you want. Just adding a teaspoon of natural cocoa to your coffee should get you the reductions in stroke and heart attack risk without any of the added fat or sugar that you get by eating candy chocolate.” OH, CANADA Steve Baker: “Here’s the difference between Canada and the USA.” EXECUTIVES SAY IT’S TIME TO RAISE TAXES By Richard Blackwell Globe and Mail Mar. 29, 2010 Canada’s business executives, not usually a tax-friendly bunch, have acknowledged that it may be necessary for Ottawa to boost taxes in order to get rid of the deficit. Almost three out of five of the senior executives who responded to the latest C-Suite survey agree that in order for the federal government to balance its books, some form of tax increase may be necessary. While executives are almost unanimous that the recession is over and economic growth is under way, they are worried about how the government is going to deal with the stimulus-induced deficit. Half don’t believe Ottawa will be able to balance the books in five years, and that’s why so many think a tax increase is necessary. “I think it is in the country’s best interest in the short term to suffer a little bit and perhaps pay some higher taxes in order to try to get things back under control and back on an even keel,” said Chad Ulansky, chief executive officer of Metalex Ventures Ltd., a diamond exploration firm based in Kelowna, B.C. Mr. Ulansky was one of 151 top executives who responded to the C-Suite survey, which was conducted just after federal Finance Minister Jim Flaherty tabled his budget in early March. The survey was conducted for Report on Business and Business News Network by Toronto research firm Gandalf Group. While almost two-thirds of the executives surveyed said they had a favourable view of the budget, half of respondents said it did a poor job of reducing the deficit and almost two-thirds oppose running a deficit through 2015. Mr. Ulansky, who believes consumption levies are the fairest form of taxation, said a temporary boost to the GST might be the best way to get the country out of the red – partly because it would involve the fewest administrative headaches. Other tax increases would also be acceptable to Mr. Ulansky. “I’d be willing to pay a little more on my income tax” and even a boost in corporate taxes might be palatable for the short term, he said. “If we could somehow have consensus around the country to all suffer through a bit of higher taxes for the next five or 10 years, we’ll be a far stronger country on the other side of it.” Philip Deck, executive chairman of Waterloo, Ont.-based software firm MKS Inc., said he, too, feels a tax hike may be necessary, and raising the GST makes the most sense. ☞ People seem horrified at the prospect that taxes might return to their levels under Clinton/Gore. Among Republicans, it hearkens back to 1993. The first Clinton budget got not a single Republican vote. Not one. And yet it wasn’t such a bad time for Americans at all income levels. The rich grew richer; the poor, less poor; the deficit, not at all. Think about it.