Quote:
Originally Posted by Azure
Supporting taxes doesn't make you socialist. Only a fool thinks that a city can run efficiently without taxes and such.
I consider myself fiscally conservative and I approve of a well-placed tax.
I do not approve of stupid taxes that are levied against the population because the government can't control its spending.
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If we're still talking about new developments paying for themselves and instituting a toll for those who use municipal resources but don't contribute to the tax base, how are those "stupid taxes that are levied against the population because the government can't control its spending"? They're smart taxes that fix specific problems. Subsidizing new developments and suburbs in general creates a city that expands more than it would naturally, thus lowering density and increasing the required infrastructure per capita, increasing overall tax rates. Sleeper communities (and the likes of CrossIron Mills) are even worse. They create traffic for Calgary without contributing to the tax base at all.
IMO a stupid tax that is levied against the population because the government can't control it's spending is when the city can't stop expanding and uses the existing tax base to pay for those expansions.