Quote:
Originally Posted by Rerun
Wow... I agree totally. While Danidollars are nice... to be honest it wouldn't have made that big of a difference in my life... actually the difference it would have made is miniscule. I suspect that is probably true for a large majority of people too.
I should add that there is a 4th way to deal with a surplus. Reduce taxes. If you have a significant surplus its pretty obvious that your taxation rate is too high. Reducing taxes encourages investment and is good for the economy and is a win-win all around.
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It depends on the size and frequency of surplusses. If the government is repeatedly running multi-billion dollar surplusses, even during times of economic downturn, then I agree that taxes are too high and should be reduced.
Unfortunately, it's almost impossible to increase taxes when necessary because of political repercussions, and governments run the risk of making deficits structural if rates are set too low. What if Ralph Klein had lowered taxes significantly during the last boom when everything in Alberta was looking rosy? How much worse would our deficit situation be today?