The first logical thing to do in the reform is to define core purposes of the Social Security system. A framework should be built first to enable global optimisation of the total Social Security system rather than a series of quick fixes to numerous separate programs.
To many Canadians, Social Security system is sacred. However, it should be a "safety net" instead of an add-on to citizens's income.
Federal Government should mandate Federal Core Principles, as in the Canada Health Act.
comprehensiveness
universality
portability, mobility
accessibility
public administration
The only way to treat everyone the same is by treating each individual differently with justice and fairness. Thus, universality should not mean universal coverage and equal amount of money, but universal access and eligibility.
Provide "Absolute Simplicity and Consistency" and "Individual Dignity and Respect" for Canadian citizens. There is only 1 taxpayer who needs 1 means to deal with the "Government" instead of a matrix of different levels of governments, departments, agencies, programs, ...
03 | Guaranteed Minimum Income
The statement "To provide a reasonable guaranteed income, however, we would have to raise taxes", is not quite true. Canada already has a sort of minimum income program. However, it is not delivered effectively since it is in disorganised bits and pieces. The key is to consolidate a maze of Child Tax Benefit, UIC, OAS, GIS, CPP, Welfare, etc. with different eligibility and coverage and application forms into a single personalised program to suit each individual citizen.
This proposal calls for an amalgamation of income tax and numerous social security programs (federal, provincial, municipal) into a single framework account, then call it Guaranteed Minimum Income. The federal amount would be identical for the whole country, but the total amount would be different from place to place depending on the contributions by provincial and municipal governments. Then, it would be rationally and logically improved in the future without radically changing the administration.
Statements for the consolidated Government Account would include both negative flow (Income Tax) and positive flow (Social Security). The account would be linked with taxpayer's banks through direct deposit/payment, debit/credit card, or digital cash. Public officials and governments can fight on the algorithm to determine the amount of money for "employment portion", "child portion", etc. A single account for each citizen would minimise irrationality and political interference such as clawbacks and GST rebate. Transaction between the citizen and the government should be continuously adjusted, as in the equalised payment plan for electric utility charges.
Every citizen should be treated as an object with a government account. Therefore, each child would have an individual account from the time of his/her birth, and today's Child Tax Benefit should be paid out to an individual child in care of his/her parents/guardians. The eligibility and the amount would be calculated based on the incomes of the parents/guardians.
Some of the irregularities of today's Income Tax and Social Security system include a disparity between a child born in January and one in December, between a couple married in January and one in December. Relatively high income earner who suddenly loses a job may wait for more than 1 year to receive Child Tax Benefit. With the government account and dynamic calculation, such changes can be reflected immediately to better reflect individual citizen's situation.
04 | Jobs versus Work
The governments should accept the fact that there will be plenty of work as virtual projects in virtual corporations and virtual governments, but few permanent full-time jobs.
Thus, the governments should abolish the concept of employer/employee relationship from their laws and regulations, and treat every working citizen a self-employed contractor with non-disclosure agreement to corporations and governments. This is becoming possible because the overhead cost to be self-employed is much lower now thanks to automation such as accounting software and legal software.
A person should have a single Personal Pension account. It could be something like RRSP administered by the private sector but regulated by the Federal Government. The CPP/QPP could be rearranged as a component guaranteed by the government, to be invested in government bonds. It is by definition portable throughout each citizen's life.
Today's job bank kiosk by Canada Employment Centre is a good step, but it should be accessible on-line from home and be customised to suit individual client. For example, an electronic agent could access a Personal Profile (qualification, training, relocation willingness) in a public X.500 directory and automatically pulls out only relevant information and notify him/her using a skill matching system based on Artificial Intelligence and Knowledge Base Management System.
05 | Institutional Reform and Division of Powers
Federal Government should have a single method to transfer money to provinces and territories. Thus, the Equalisation Payment could be enhanced to be the only transfer, and others such as Canada Assistance Plan should be absorbed into the Equalisation Payment.
As long as the Federal Core Principles are met, the program delivery can be effectively administered by a super-crown corporation or a quasi-public independent body to manage joint Social Security system and eliminate, by construction, duplication of services.
The Federal Government should have a right, as an organisation, to assign a single government account number to every citizen and to maintain a personal profile as "Citizen Profile". This would supersede the Social Insurance Number, Certificate of Canadian Citizenship, Birth and Marriage Certificates, and even Passport. The vital information including a digitised photo identification can be stored in a central on-line database accessible from government offices and entry points. There should be no question of privacy since the personal information would be used within the government agencies only. Today, cross-checking takes place anyway between income tax and UIC, for example. The U.S. Government is now considering the introduction of "National Identity Card".
The "Citizen Profile" concept could extend to provincial and municipal governments as well to include the functions of today's Driver's License card and Health Care card. Society as a whole should value prevention of abuse and fraud more than privacy among governments and government agencies. It would also act as a permanent census record, on a voluntary basis.
With encryption and digital signature, citizens should have a direct read/write access to the "Citizen Profile" so that the name and address changes could be done only once for the entire government business. The reporting to the government, such as today's UIC report, would also be made on-line from home.
06 | Other Ideas
This kind of survey can be incorporated into a single electronic "Government Suggestion Box" on the Information Superhighway. Internet is a good starting point, and statistics gathering can be automated. Eventually, citizens could be empowered to participate in a direct democracy with electronic voting, referenda, and even a virtual constitutional assembly.
Any input to the government should be responded and good ideas should be rewarded, just as the private sector rewards good suggestions. The reward does not have to be monetary but a symbol like Order of Canada if the government saves $X million CAD because of the suggestion.
There must be a coherent vision to put citizens's interest first and to give them a Single Point of Entry to deal with the government. Thus, there should be coordination among such initiatives as "Blueprint for Renewing Government Services Using Information Technology", "Access Canada", "Open Government Pilot" on the Internet (gopher, World-Wide Web). The "Citizen Profile" could enable every government service to be personalised and customised for individual citizens.
The government should issue an Annual Report with complete financial statements and a consolidated balance sheet.
Here are some of the tax reform ideas, assuming the single Government Account.
