Quote:
Originally Posted by Fuzz
Dude, I'm sorry you are just coming to realize this, but this is standard conservative operating procedure. Harper was a real champ at it. Cut the GST then claimed poverty on all sorts of needs. The real poison comes when they and their media mouthpieces make it hard for voters to support any party that may even mention restoring taxes to levels needed to fund services, because they lie in comparisons with other countries and ignoring how marginal tax rates work. Voters believe the lies, and here we are. It's a long term wittling away at society, and while it's great you finally clued in to this, you will have to support different parties if you don't want it to continue.
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1) I didn't care much for Harper
2) it's a perfectly reasonable position to cut taxes with good reason. Harper had a valid reason for tax cuts, namely that part of the tax increase was historically put in place to address a fiscal crisis which no longer existed. So to that extent, cutting taxes was a valid policy decision because the reason for those taxes was no longer valid (interest payments on debt had fallen substantially and debt to GDP levels were AAA). And harper did it while still running a prudent budget. Those decisions were reflective of competent governance, even if it's not to your taste or ideology or fiscal preferences.
The UPC in contrast cut taxes into a fiscal storm of tariffs with poor reasoning (fulfilling a campaign talking points). Cutting those taxes reduces their ability to run a prudent budget, which was already going to be impacted by lower employment and lower resource revenue. They're now using those tax cuts as a negotiation tactic, which is weaponizing their own incompetence. The UPC also had already accomplished the task of bringing public service pay back to reasonable levels, so at this point theyre cutting into the bone rather than into the fat.