Angry in the Great White North

Prime Minister Stephen Harper gave an important speech about taxation:

Canada's economy remains rock-solid despite the many challenges facing it -- and low taxes will help it stay that way, says Prime Minister Stephen Harper.

Harper promised Thursday that to maintain and enhance Canada's prosperity over the long term, his Conservative government would develop "one of the most competitive and attractive tax environments on the planet."

In bragging about cutting the GST being reduced from seven per cent to five per cent on his watch, Harper took a shot at economists who criticized the GST cut.

"These are economists who believe the GST is a good tax; which of course comes from the school of economics that believes there's such a thing as good taxes," he said.

Economists who oppose the GST cut generally say it would be better to reduce personal income taxes by the same amount, as that would encourage savings and investment rather than spending.

So I went through the comments left by readers, and this one struck me as particularly interesting:

I still worry about our poorest citizens.

Tax relief can only benefit you to the extent that you pay taxes.

My mother is on a fixed income and there is a finite limit to the amount more that she could expect to live on even if 100% of her taxes were magically returned to her.

Our country had better continue to have an adequate social safety net or we will suffer the social ills that come when some citizens live with intractable poverty.

Maybe the person who posted this comment should consider this. If you managed to keep a couple thousand extra every year from a combination of GST cuts, income tax cuts, and higher wages your company can afford to pay you because of lower corporate taxes, then why don't you use that money to fix up that spare room and get your mom to move in with you?

My mom? With us? Um, that's not what...I mean I love my mom....but...with going out...vacations...we have a lifestyle...

Hey, maybe it wouldn't work in this person's specific case, but in general, that's what we're talking about here. People are moaning about the social safety net. Once, a long time ago, we were the social safety net. Parents took care of children, and later children took care of their parents. For some people, charities would step in to bridge the gap. Government programs have replaced all of that. The problem is that government programs have been far more successful at eliminating the sense of responsibility we used to have, and less successful at actually dealing with poverty.

I pay my taxes. What? Poverty is still a problem? Well, I suppose someone else isn't paying enough taxes. Let's raise their taxes some more.

We've uploaded all that work to the government (actually, we've uploaded the intra-generational redistribution of wealth). We pay our taxes and gripe about how much we're paying. Then someone gives us the taxes back. Economists moan about how we'll use that money to spend on consumer goods. Well-meaning liberal types worry about what's going to happen to seniors who won't see their CPP cheques increased.

I think I can address the concerns of the economists and the well-meaning liberals at the same time. We take care of our retired parents, and that money spent on consumer goods (like some extra furniture and a couple of senior-friendly home renovations) will be money well spent.

And even David Suzuki will be happy as more people will be living under the same roof!

Of course, this only works if you have kids when you reach your twilight years. The real problem facing this country is that decades of liberalism in Canada has led to an inevitable crash in the birthrate. It's fine for me to talk about Canadians keeping more of their own money so that they can take care of their own, but for many retirees who grew up when the nanny state promised them a comfortable retirement, having kids was not a priority. For them, there really is no one to take care of them except a faceless bureaucrat redistributing wealth according to a formula. I guess it'll take a long time before Canadians stop depending so much on government, and then real tax relief can come.