Short Takes: Is CPP a Tax?, Credit Card Surcharges, and more

A prominent politician recently referred to CPP premiums as a tax.  This sparked a debate about this question.  Personally, I find CPP premiums look a little like a tax, but mostly not.  I once looked into how much of your CPP contributions are really a tax, but this was not intended to be like the current semantic discussion.  I don’t think this debate about whether CPP premiums are a tax is very important, but the answer a person argues for can tell you something about what they think about more important questions.  Should we scrap CPP?  No.  Should we be allowed to opt out of CPP?  No.  Can Canadians do better investing their savings on their own?  No.  Can most of the people who claim to be able to invest better on their own actually do better?  No. Do most of the people who claim to be able to invest better on their own even know their past investment returns?  No.  Should we reduce CPP premiums to reduce payroll taxes for businesses?  No.  How about just a temporary reduction?  No.  Is CPP at risk of running out of money?  No.  Should we seek to control the rising costs of running CPP?  Yes.  That list of questions and answers should make just about everyone unhappy.

Pete Evans reports on new rules allowing retailers to pass credit card fees on to customers as a surcharge.  Judging by comments online, customers are not happy about this prospect.  I’d prefer to see this done as a discount for paying cash, but that would force retailers to advertise slightly higher prices.  One thing the new law should have if it doesn’t already is that there should be some way to pay the advertised price.  If a business offers no meaningful way to pay without using a credit card, it shouldn’t be allowed to add a credit card surcharge.

Ipsos has a garbage survey indicating that 53% of Canadians are $200 or less from insolvency.  It must be hard work to find a way to ask the question to get people to say that they are nearly insolvent.  Normally, I avoid giving oxygen to such nonsense, but this kind of survey comes up again and again.  There must be good money in pumping out material for clickbait headlines.  This just distracts from serious discussions about people with severe financial problems.

Robb Engen at Boomer and Echo tries to reassure investors who are ready to sell off their stocks.  It’s hard to convince a scared person that they have no idea what the near future will look like.