T is for Taxation

It seems that everyone the world over complains about paying taxes but we complain just as much about the things we are NOT getting from our taxes. Insufficient health care is number one concern right now across the country but there are other deficiencies as well. There isn’t enough money spent on education. Our children are the future of this country and it behoves us to provide them with an education that will make them happy and productive citizens. Post secondary education should be affordable and available to those who want it and have the potential to continue onwards to a profession.

Our infrastructure is not only behind our growth but also behind Europe in providing adequate service to the population. Alberta has the most gravel roads of any province in the country and yet it is the richest province by far. Premier Getty was able to have his constituency’s gravel roads paved while he was governing the province but did other rural areas get some grants for paving their roads? Not only are vehicles damaged underneath and windshields cracked incessantly but there are also more accidents on rural roads caused unnecessarily because the roads are ill kept. I would far sooner see another road paved than fund a museum, zoo or stadium. Roads are essential, the other facilities are luxuries and should be secondary to prime need. If one individual lives 20 miles from the nearest paved road it is incumbent on our system to provide safe, paved roads for that taxpayer before we spend an equal sum on a skating rink for wannabee hockey players.

A large percentage of our seniors live below the poverty line. Most of these seniors were productive taxpayers through their entire lives but were unable to save for their retirement for one reason or another. Our taxes ought to be able to fund seniors with pensions to keep them in line with middle income levels. As previously noted the average combined pension is about $12,000. To have a modest living a minimum should be $24,000. I anticipate the question “whose going to pay for it?” We all are but wouldn’t you rather have your tax dollar go to pensions than fund a war in Afghanistan, or fund airplanes without motors, or provide gravytrain pensions for useless political hacks? Not to mention why are the pension fund coffers so low? The baby boomers have put money into these funds since 1963 and if the fund had been segregated and managed prudently there ought to be huge surpluses in the CPP. Instead our government has used these monies to fund other areas of the government and has thus loss untold billions. Shameful.

Taxation is here to stay but it is the duty of our government to use the tax dollars wisely and for the benefit of ALL its taxpayers. As yourself which government is most likely to use the funds to the ultimate good of the largest majority of the population?