Countering the Nanny State
A blog dedicated to lower taxes, less waste and exposing, and resisting, the ever ubiquitous nanny state that is corroding the way of life and the freedom of the people of New Brunswick, Canada.
Friday, July 13, 2007
A blog dedicated to lower taxes, less waste and exposing, and resisting, the ever ubiquitous nanny state that is corroding the way of life and the freedom of the people of New Brunswick, Canada.
6 Comments:
Interesting stuff, however, the details prove the case wrong. The Taxpayers Federation is a lot of noise, and 'sending emails' is hardly 'taking it to the streets'. You want to see people in the streets, you should have seen Queens Park when Harris was around.
However, they have good points, all that stuff about businesses leaving Toronto and going to 905 is quite true and serious. The problem, as usual, is the province and the feds. Toronto is still the WEALTHIEST city in the country, Calgary may have passed them but I doubt it. So the question is that if Toronto is in such straights, why isn't anybody talking about what goes on in, say, competitive place number 1, Switzerland, where most INCOME tax is held by local governments?
You have to remember that all the province did was say 'ok I know you guys are screwed so we'll let you raise your own taxes'. Not that 'we'll SHARE our taxes', or let you keep some of your income. Keep in mind that Canada is the ONLY industrial nation where public transit is paid for by municipalities. Those lovely trains in asia and europe and the US, thats not local money running them.
So Toronto is right to gripe, but of course their gripe is the same as every other city, so its odd that special regulations get written for them.
As for the taxes, that is actually a good mix. If you read it, it says property tax has risen by 3.8%. That's it. Try mentioning that to somebody in Moncton whose property tax has almost doubled. Even here in Waterloo thanks to bureaucratic bungling our property taxes went up 30%. 3.8% is like a pipe dream.
And of course the taxpayers federation has an agenda. The taxes Miller has picked so far is a good mix. Vehicle registration is only like $74 dollars a year, that's $6 a month, compare that to gas prices or insurance. So that's nothing.
For homes, of course Toronto homes have skyrocketed, so that's not a huge deal. For seniors it doesn't affect them at all because they aren't moving, or else the seller pays it.
And wine and alcohol is already mostly tax, a little more means little. You can get wine so cheap now that a buck in tax makes no difference at all.
But compare that to the 'demands' of the taxpayer federation, oops, I shouldn't write that since they are known to sue anybody else who dares use the word 'taxpayer'. While nobody defends pay rate increases, a cut there goes nowhere near making a dent. They are literally looking to axe the whole government system and replace it with, well, trained monkeys maybe? In fact P3's have never been shown to save money, and in fact have been proven to cost more money (just take a look at the gun registry and ontario hospitals).
So actually, Miller did a pretty good job on that file. Toronto really ought to be a 'federal city' because they really do get all the problems sent from all over canada. If you are poor, you head to Toronto. It's too bad guys with the clout of the Taxpayers fed couldn't get more on board with real solutions, their problem seems to be that they hate every form of government so much that they can't ever do business with them, like organizations of municipalities which have been lobbying for more income tax powers for decades.
Once again, look at Switzerland. There, local government has most power and money, because local govenrment is the closest to the people, and with direct democracy, people actually have the power to make these decisions, not some elite group of developers. The federal and canton levels often are made up of the same politicians so there isn't a clear divide between the levels of government (like, say, hmmmm, here?) At the federal level, most MP's don't even have offices.
So the question is that if Toronto is in such straights, why isn't anybody talking about what goes on in, say, competitive place number 1, Switzerland, where most INCOME tax is held by local governments?
Who says I'm not? I have a friend who just returned to Paris from Switzerland because he is optimistic about the situation under Sarko (low taxes less government). Btw, he is not the only one ho fled France in the last decade to Switzerland or England.
And do you blame them. I mean Switzerland is the most competitive country in the world, not to mention, the corporate tax rate is only 20 per cent.
I always thought a place like Bolivia or Venezuela was more to our friend Mr. Archibald's taste. Switzerland huh? Just when I think I have the guy figured out.
When I say they aren't talking about it, I don't mean YOU, I mean the organizations like the taxpayer federation.
So Spinks doesn't feel too surprised I'd rank Venezuela right up there right after Switzerland and Norway. No country is perfect, but the fact is that policies in those countries actually reflect what the people want. That's what democracy is.
Switzerland is no great haven, they are also the war profiteers for the world, however, that is a position that the people have chosen, and chosen intelligently based on actual information, and not just rampant propaganda.
You can't dispute that Venezuela is doing exactly what the majority of people want.
That's exactly the opposite of what happens in Canada. So the point is, that you can't simply point at one policy and say "if we just copy that then we'll be fine". It doesn't work that way, in fact it CANT work that way because the entire structure of government is the opposite, theirs works from the bottom up, while ours is dictated from the top down.
As for competition though, it all depends on your criteria, change a couple of ideas of what you think 'competitive' means, and you get completely different results.
Got to say I've grown pretty accustomed to my own country. There's a lineup to get into Canada for a reason. You can have Venezuela Mr. Archibald. I'll stick with tht Maple Leaf.
THere's a lineup to get into just about EVERY country that isn't being blown up. Canada's immigration is nowhere NEAR the levels in europe, and actually Venezuela is a nation of immigrants and has a 'line up' that far surpasses Canada. I'd wager that if you walked into one of the shelters in Moncton, Saint John and Fredericton and told those people about the possibilities in Venezuela, it would be even longer.
But for a guy who is quite happy with Canada, Spinks, you do an awful lot of complaining about the place.
The simple fact is that those countries mentioned above have populations that are far happier with their government and politicians than in this one, and therefore take part far more often, are far more democratic, and thats' the point.
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