Quote:
Originally Posted by Enoch Root
However, a very significant portion of those taxes were needed simply to cover the debt load.
It's not like 50% tax rates were required to cover the social services and government programs of the time.
|
How do you know that?
Canada's rapid expansion of infrastructure is directly related to operating income from taxes.
That there has been precious little relative investment in infrastructure, and ever increasing battles over where the more limited tax resources are spent, I think it's pretty difficult to say they weren't necessary to fund those projects and services initially.
Schools, Universities, Bridges, scientific and industrial infrastructure all boomed in the 50s, 60s and early 70s, and have all been crumbling and inadequate since. It's not just that there hasn't been new infrastructure built, either, it's that there is no longer the money to spend maintaining the existing infrastructure as well, causing it to age and degrade prematurely, shortening its lifespan and increasing the likelihood of failure, all of which cost more in the long run than adequate maintenance would cost.
It's not the case of some services drastically increasing in price, it's a case of a smaller pool of tax revenue to finance cost increases for all services across the board.