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It’s “time for you to get ahead” is a simple phrase and has a certain superficial appeal. I can imagine many people nodding in agreement.
I usually sleep very soundly. Last night, that phrase kept rolling around in my head, keeping me awake. It implies that tax cuts will leave more money in people's pockets for them to spend as they wish.
And so it will but, for most people, the amounts of money are trivial and will not change anybody’s life.
The people whose lives might be improved by tax cuts are folk whose tax bill is relatively high.
What will they spend the money on? Perhaps a bigger TV, or a new 5G phone. Possibilities include a larger SUV, a bigger house, a cruise holiday or perhaps an adult toy like a Sea-Doo or a four-wheel-drive ATV.
Of course, tax cuts mean less government revenue – less money to spend on the services and facilities we all use such as long-term care homes, police, road maintenance, schools and teachers, hospitals and staff to operate them, fire services, the justice system, libraries, public parks, the military, water and sewage treatment, public swimming pools, public ice surfaces, public transit systems... The list is long and comprehensive.
Everybody has their own favourite service or facility which they would like to cut or even abandon. The fact that we do not have identical, or even similar, lists speaks to the variety of Canadian life.
The fact that most of us tolerate “wasting money” on someone else’s passionate interests is a vivid expression of why Canada is a great country welcoming to people of all political persuasions.
The bottom line is that giving many Canadians a trivial (perhaps $300 annually) sum will beggar many services that some of us prize. Moreover, all of these are things which are far cheaper bought in bulk.
Just imagine hiring a tutor for your children instead of sending them to a public school. Imagine clearing the snow from 50 metres of your street instead of having a city snow plow do the job.
Imagine hiring, training and arming people to protect your personal property instead of relying on the military and the police, or having your own doctor, as the dukes, earls and royal families of the Middle Ages had.
In simple terms, that’s why we pay taxes and why tax cuts are a very bad idea, regardless of which party offers them.
And that’s why “time for you to get ahead” is such a poor idea. It undermines much of what Canada stands for.
I much prefer living in a Canada where all of us “get ahead” – together.
Peter Bursztyn
Barrie
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