Quote:
Originally Posted by Handsome B. Wonderful
Only a fool wants to pay more taxes. Only a fool wants to give more and more money away, degrade their own living situation, and get nothing extra in return. And when I'm saying 'fool', I'm being polite. I should just say 'idiot'.
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It's fools who think they can have European quality public services and infrastructure with American taxation levels. I'd vote for any party that ran on a platform of introducing a PST, while cutting/freezing government spending to eventually re-balance the provincial budget.
With ageing populations and stagnant economies in the Western world, a reckoning is coming. If we don't get our fiscal house in order, the whole public system could collapse. Pensions, health care - these things are not guaranteed into perpetuity. How keen are you on seeing hospital wait times get longer and longer? On seeing university costs rise higher and higher? Infrastructure and public spaces relentlessly deteriorating? On CPP benefits slashed to keep the basic government operations running?
Maybe you think you have enough money and wherewithal to prosper without public health care, education, and pensions. Maybe you like the idea of living in a gated community, paying out of pocket for health care, sending your kids to private schools. Me, I like our egalitarian public system. The security and mutual trust that it provides. You couldn't pay me enough to live in the U.S., with its low taxes, winner-take-all approach to society.