Happy Friday, Entrepreneurship students. Today you were given your last major assignment for the octet - answering the question, Should large corporations, such as Amazon, be required to pay taxes? We have spent the past three days looking at the information that can help us answer this question. Since we have had an unusually high number of absences this week, I want to retrace our steps below to help everyone get back on to the same page. Step 1 - Tax Systems After looking deeply in to how taxes are calculated off of your pay cheques using the tax brackets at both the federal and provincial level, we looked at three different systems for charging taxes: flat, progressive and regressive. Here's a quick review: Flat = Everyone pays a flat rate percentage of their income, regardless of how much money they make. Progressive = the higher you climb up the tax brackets for your region, the higher the percentage of tax owed becomes. This is what we have in Canada. Regressive = the higher you climb up the tax brackets for your region, the lower the percentage of tax owed becomes. This is seen in many states in the USA, such as Washington, Texas and Florida. Step 2 - Canada's National BudgetOn Thursday morning we looked at how Canada budgets out our expenses for the year. We learned that Canada spent approximately $375 billion in 2019. To find out a bit about what that money covered, we studied the 2019 Budget - the 2020 budget was scheduled to come out on March 20th last year...we all know how that one ends, but in a nut shell, covid and the ensuing economic crash made the budget irrelevant just days before it would have been published and so it never was. You can look at the budget and its highlights here: https://www.budget.gc.ca/2019/home-accueil-en.html As you look through the website, look to answer these questions: 1. What does Canada allocate money from their budget towards? 2. Based on this budget and the highlights on the website, what seems to be our priority as a society? 3. Are there any surprises on the budget that you didn't realize we paid for with our taxes? Step 3 - Economic Theories: Trickle- Down vs. Middle OutNext we looked at two opposing theories of economics to explore some of the different ideas about who should be taxed at which levels. I have attached an article on each of these theories to help you understand what the main ideas behind each theory are. Also attached are the questions that go with these articles. Complete and hand in at your earliest convenience.
Step 4 - Applying this information to AmazonThe last step before we can answer this question of whether or not large corporations should pay taxes is to bring a real life example in to the discussion. Amazon famously has been able to avoid paying federal income tax despite posting profits of $11.9 billion. While it sounds like an absurd idea, there is more to this idea of not paying taxes than just receiving a cheque back from the government. These tax breaks are used as incentives to encourage and motivate companies to grow and help stimulate the economy. Watch this video and read the attached article to understand WHY it is that Amazon avoids paying taxes.
We finished out the discussion by weighing both the pros and cons associated with large corporations not paying taxes in a group discussion. If you were not in class on Friday, I would recommend making a pros and cons list so that you can see both perspectives to the argument. Step 5 - Responding to the question.It is your turn to respond to the question now. You have a few options as to how you will share your opinion on the matter. Take a look at the assignment description attached below to see what interests you most. Regardless of which option you choose, I am looking for you to include three things in to your response: 1. Thesis - a clear position on what you believe and will support throughout the project. 2. Supporting Evidence - you must support your opinion using evidence from the articles, videos, discussions, or any additional research that you do. For example, bringing in statistics or specific examples to make your case. 3. Critical Analysis/Commentary - explain why these stats and examples are significant. What do they mean for our society as a whole? What are the problems you see with either position?
We will have time in class next week to work on our projects, but if you haven't been in attendance this week, I would recommend getting a start on looking at the information and figuring out your position over the weekend.
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EntrepreneurshipEntrepreneurship is an opportunity for students to learn about the world of business, finance, and marketing. In this class we explore both practical and theoretical topics in business to help students to understand what the entrepreneurial process is and if it is something they are interested in pursuing as a career. ArchivesCategories |