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Can we have an adult conversation about taxes?
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| Parent(s) |
Issue
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| Contributor | Monsieur |
| Last Edited | Monsieur Oct 26, 2009 10:10am |
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| Category | General |
| Author | Hugh Mackenzie |
| News Date | Monday, October 26, 2009 04:10:00 PM UTC0:0 |
| Description | At the risk of insulting a generation of 4-year-olds, it's time we had an adult conversation in Canada about taxes and public services.
Most 4-year-olds have figured out that when you go to the store to get something you want, you have to be prepared to pay for it. Yet Canada's political leaders and business interest lobbyists would rather spit nickels than admit this basic fact. It's a problem with all political leaders and parties – not just those I disagree with.
For Canada's political right-wingers, their insistence that we can have massive tax cuts without suffering any decline in public services is worse than childish; it's delusional. Any 4-year-old knows if you go to the store with less money, you're going to come away with less candy. Eliminate government waste, they say, and we can have lower taxes without cuts in services.
Sounds good, particularly when provincial and federal auditors provide an annual source book for examples of stupid things that have been done with public money. But, at heart, most Canadians know and appreciate the fact that our public money is spent on services Canadians value in their everyday lives: Public health care, education and transit systems. Paved roads, sidewalks, sewer systems, clean water. Public services we couldn't do without.
Then there's the right-wing's childish fantasy that if you lower tax rates, government revenue will actually increase. We can all pay less tax, and government will get more revenue. |
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