Tax cuts as a political ploy bother me. It’s a bit like ‘investing in health care’. Who’s going to say ‘yeah, that’s a bad idea’. So, parties invariably these days include ‘tax cuts’ in their platform.
Don’t get me wrong. I pay something like 40% of my income in taxes and those friggin’ hidden ones bother me the most.
Do tax cuts work? Well, let’s look at the New Brunswick example.
The Premier has cut small biz taxes to the lowest rate in Canada – and bragged about it endlessly – although not as much lately, hmmmm.
Any hoo.
The result of these tax cuts has been an 7-8% decline in the number of small businesses in the province since 2000 – on PEI has faired worse.
I see no indication that cutting the small biz tax has generated better outcomes for small business.
The Tory government will say “the people are better at spending their own money than the government”.
Huh?
If that’s the case, Bernie, give me my 40% back, please.
The reality is that these miniscule tax cuts do nothing more than force the government to either cut more services or get more Equalization from Ontario.
For me it’s a perverse logic. We have cut spending in all areas except health care and education, they say. And we’re cutting your taxes.
So, I guess we are all forced to ask a fundamental question. What do we want from government? If we want a health care manager, we know who to elect.