Quote:
Originally Posted by Fuzz
Well we've tried decades of cutting taxes, and our services have gotten worse, so maybe we should try something different for a bit?
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That has been tried for the last 10 years though, and the result has been:
- Government employees are up 40%
- Debt servicing costs are at an all time high, with debt doubled
- The economy has been growing at the slowest rate in the G7 in terms of real GDP per capita
- Housing prices have increased at the highest rate in the G7
- Having to import cheap labor in order to prop up the stagnant economy and show some level of nominal growth
- Billions of dollars wasted by the government on non-value adding things (consultants, paying their buddies, etc.)
- Basically zero investment thesis left for Canada anymore to help drive the economy
- Continued large government deficits even years after the pandemic
Is all of this worth $10 day care and a dental program? Because I haven't seen a whole lot out of the government other than this.
Now the pandemic obviously had an effect on things like the debt doubling, but when the economy is as stagnant as it is, you can't continue to run extremely large deficits and add to the debt levels. The US can keep adding debt because their economy sees a benefit in doing so (eg. Inflation Reduction Act). Canada doesn't see that benefit. You get into a doom loop of: raise taxes because you need to fund social programs --> you lose some of that expected revenue because people and industries leave to more competitive jurisdictions --> you have to keep raising taxes to fund things.
As a higher earner, why in the world would someone want to stay in Canada when they could go to the US, get paid more for the same job and have lower taxes and lower cost of living, better health care for less money, and better future job opportunities from a dearth of companies out there?