Quote:
Originally Posted by chemgear
http://calgary.ctvnews.ca/poll-shows...-pst-1.2194924
The results of a new poll, asking Albertans whether or not they want to see a sales tax implemented in the province, show that residents have no taste for the proposal.
The poll, conducted on January 18 from a test group of 3,184 Albertans, found that 73 percent were not in favour of a provincial sales tax.
The firm found that the idea of a PST came dead last against other revenue streams. The preferred method in the poll was an increase of user fees and sin taxes on alcohol and cigarettes.
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It's daft to put the proposed options in those terms. Of course few people want to pay more taxes.
The real question is what services do you want to cut if you don't want to increases taxes. The Alberta PCs actually came up with a really smart and sensible online quiz last year where you could toggle different revenue and spending options and see the results. That's the way you need to get people thinking - in terms of tradeoffs. That's the way we think about our personal finances. The notion that public finances aren't about trade-offs - that's it's a matter of waste or lazy civil servants or going after the other guy to get revenue - is what got us into this mess in the first place.