Raise Taxes Now!

Looking south of the border at the debt ceiling crisis in the US, I might have a feeling of smugness as a Canadian, but I don't. We tend to follow US trends closely, and with our current Conservative administration, the constant pressure to lower taxes is just as strongly felt here as in the US.

The problem is that for a balanced budget, you have two options, raise income or cut spending. We've been cutting spending for the last two decades and we are at the point where public services are suffering. In the US we've seen a bridge collapse, schools are failing, and prisoners have been let go free because of overcrowding (I'll save a piece on the stupidity of mandatory minimum sentences and three strike laws for another blog).

I know about non-balanced budgets. I had to declare personal bankruptcy once. After I got that over with, I went back to school, got a better job, and thought I was safe. I found myself in debt again. So this time I cut spending. But at some point you can't cut any more. I had no car, I spent the minimum on food, and I wore my shoes until people commented on the holes in them. I was just barely keeping my head above water. So I found a way to make some extra income. It has made all the difference. Just a few hundred dollars a month in my budget has made paying off debt a breeze. Governments need to do the same.

Last year, I earned about $59000 in my job plus a net of about $1000 for my extra income. I paid about $8200 on an income just over $60,000. That's an effective rate under 14%. And that's provincial and federal tax combined! I can hardly claim to be burdened with excessive taxation. But when I go to the passport office, twenty of thirty wickets are closed. When I visited the taxation office for a friend's audit, there wasn't even a receptionist and some poor delivery guy was trying to get our auditor to accept a package for some unknown person in the building. Come on! Raise taxes and let's hire some civil servants!

In this province there are wildlife protection officers who have thousands of miles of territory to cover. Does that protect us from poachers? Instead they put up signs in the bush asking us to "observe, and report suspicious activity."

So instead of taxing us up front, so those with higher incomes pay more, the government institutes "user fees" for public amenities. User fees are the same thing as taxes, except rich people can afford them more than poor people. So I can afford to take my kid camping at a public park for $25 a night, but someone with less money can't. Democracy is supposed to be about the greatest good for the greatest number of people. Without a good progressive taxation system, we're doomed. When will some political leaders have the guts to stand up and say that they want to deliver effective government and we need to pay for it?

Look around. People are lining up to pay $5 for some fancy Starbucks coffee. When I was a kid, I remember seeing a Cadillac for the first time. Today you can barely cross the street without being run down by people driving Audis, BMWs, Infinitis, and other luxury cars. I see Rolls Royces regularly. Ferraris are a daily sight. Don't tell me we can't afford to pay more taxes!

This is a selfish, self-centred society. We want services from our government that we don't want to pay for. Suck it up Canada (and my friends in the US). Pay more taxes now!