Borden’s Burdensome Tax

On this day, in 1917,  Prime Minister Robert Borden – whose mustachioed visage is on the $100 bill – imposed an income tax on Canadians, varying from 4 -25% of one’s income, in large part to pay for the costs of the First World War into which our Dominion was drawn, the ‘war to end all wars’ – but we now know, it was only the beginning.

And so was the tax: Ostensibly, it was a ‘temporary and emergency measure’, to be withdrawn once the ’emergency’ was no longer so ’emergent’. Hmm. Where have we heard that before?

Of course, the government got addicted to all that extra cash flow – and there was lots of it – the emergency kept emerging, and what you see around you is what we got: A bloated bureaucracy and spiraling debt, now over a trillion dollars and counting.

If you want some idea of how much a ‘trillion’ is, ponder the following: If you made an average income of $50,000 a year, and spent none of that on anything, piling it up, it would still take you 20,000,000 years to become a trillionaire. (There are any number of other analogies in that link). They’re taxing us now just to pay the interest, and even that’s nowhere near adding up. Our income taxes – burden as they are – are not even a drop in the bucket.

If you want a summary of what’s wrong with the government taxing the income of its citizens, here is a good summary of ten of them. One of the most deleterious is the intrusion of the state, and a faceless functionary of the CRS, into the most private details of one’s life, under the excuse of ensuring we all declare all of our ‘income’, a vague and hard-to-define quantity, and income and outcome are often in a precarious balance, more precarious for many than for others.

And they wonder why so much business is done sub mensam.

It the midst of it all, live as you can, as morally as you can. Just as taxes are unavoidable, so is death, and we may take some comfort that the latter puts an end to the former. After that comes judgement, and so long as we have been faithful to the Truth, God will forgive our debts, so long as we have forgiven the debts of others, and it will all balance out in the end, flowing over, and full measure.

Carney’s Amoral Majority

After five defections – euphemistically described as ‘crossing the floor’ – and three by-elections, Mark Carney and his Liberals how have their coveted majority. One wonders what bowls of pottage were offered in back-room deals. In the archaic monarchical system that is the Dominion of Canada, this majority allows the newly-minted Prime Minister to rule[…]Continue reading→

Saint Kateri , Canada’s Protectress

This was the title given to Saint Kateri Tekakwitha, by Pope Benedict XVI, when he canonized her on October 28th, 2012, along with six others, in Saint Peter’ Square (she had been beatified by Pope John Paul II back in 1980). With Saint Joseph as our protector, along with the Canadian martyrs, we seem to[…]Continue reading→

A Closed, Unsustainable, Descending Loop

As a follow-up to my thoughts on Payette’s payout, here be a stark image of where are here in Canada. As the graph shows in, well, graphic terms, since 2025, the public sector has contributed to 95.5% of economic growth. The private sector – which funds the public sector, or is supposed to – has[…]Continue reading→

A Tale of Two Benedicts

A grace-filled Holy Week to all our readers! As we await and prepare for the Resurrection about to dawn upon us, we might keep in mind two Benedicts: Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, requiescat in pace, elected on this day in 2005; and today’s commemoration of the mystic pilgrim, Benedict Joseph Labre, who died on this[…]Continue reading→

My Name is Bernadette

April 16th is a propitious day, for besides the anniversary of Father de Valk’s death, who founded Catholic Insight in its print form decades ago, and the commemoration of the ‘two Benedicts’, mentioned in accompanying posts, today we also recall Saint Bernadette Soubirous, the young visionary to whom the Virgin Mary appeared numerous times at[…]Continue reading→

Presidential Pardon of Weronika Krawczyk

As a good news, follow-up to our story from Poland, of the persecution of Weronika Krawczyk for her pro-life views, we heard that she has been granted a presidential pardon. One might still wonder why one needs a presidential pardon for simply holding the long-held belief that the child within the womb is a child,[…]Continue reading→

Saint Lydwina of Schiedam and Suffering Joyfully

Saint Lydwina of Schiedam (1380 – 1433) was one of the countless and glorious ‘victim souls’ in the history of the Church, those whose lives are filled with suffering, often of an unimaginable intensity, but who suffer joyfully. She was a fifteen-year old Dutch girl, out skating one day, when she fell and broke one[…]Continue reading→

The Glorious Martyrdoms of Martin and Maximus

As we enter into Eastertide, we recall on this 13th of April Pope Saint Martin I (+655), one of the noblest, if most tragic, of the successors of Saint Peter. Born in Umbria, Italy, he was of noble lineage, with great intelligence combined with charity and love of the poor and the Church. While still[…]Continue reading→

Pope Leo and a Rosary for Peace

Pope Leo XIV has asked Catholics across the world to join him in a Rosary for peace today, at 18:00 Rome time (6 pm), which would be noon from where I write (EST). If you are able, whether at that time or another, and in whatever way you pray, to join in intercession with the[…]Continue reading→

Payette’s Payout

I was glancing through some headlines, and noticed a mention of Julie Payette – engineer and astronaut and sometime the Queen’s representative in Canada – which brought back vague memories. She was appointed Governor-General by Justin Trudeau in 2017. Ms. Payette resigned in 2021, amidst claims that she created a ‘toxic work environment’, with allegations[…]Continue reading→