Calgarypuck Forums - The Unofficial Calgary Flames Fan Community - View Single Post - City tax hikes -- kiss goodbye to your fancy ped bridges

Thunderball · 10-31-2008, 02:46 PM

God, what a mess!

Essentially, I think we can all agree that in economic downturns, it is a good idea for governments to take advantage of lower labour and material costs for capital projects to avoid competing with private interest in boom times, and driving up everyone's costs.

However, I think most people can agree that pedestrian bridges are not a priority expenditure, especially the "Rolls-Royces" of pedestrian bridges. There are much more pressing capital projects, ie: hospitals, schools, LRT, ring-road, etc.

These should be the first project tossed on the backburner for the next couple years. Raising taxes in sour economic times is typically a rather foolish gesture. Right now, households can spend their money better than governments. Whether they like it or not, right or wrong, people are going to tie these Bridges to the tax increase. Governments should be spending their savings now, and saving when things improve.

10-31-2008, 02:46 PM	#67
Thunderball Franchise Player Join Date: Aug 2002 Location: Calgary, AB Exp:	God, what a mess! Essentially, I think we can all agree that in economic downturns, it is a good idea for governments to take advantage of lower labour and material costs for capital projects to avoid competing with private interest in boom times, and driving up everyone's costs. However, I think most people can agree that pedestrian bridges are not a priority expenditure, especially the "Rolls-Royces" of pedestrian bridges. There are much more pressing capital projects, ie: hospitals, schools, LRT, ring-road, etc. These should be the first project tossed on the backburner for the next couple years. Raising taxes in sour economic times is typically a rather foolish gesture. Right now, households can spend their money better than governments. Whether they like it or not, right or wrong, people are going to tie these Bridges to the tax increase. Governments should be spending their savings now, and saving when things improve. Last edited by Thunderball; 10-31-2008 at 02:50 PM.