No shit. We can offer income tax cuts instead, and get more people back to work "directly" with our infrastructure investments.I'm serious. I'm what you would call a "fiscally conservative", "socially responsible/liberal" Liberal. I believe in helping the economy through strategic investments, while working to promote home-grown business and industry, small businesses, and financial security for individual Canadians. Still, in light of this crisis - at a point where the Conservative "government" (or, even in their own opinion, lack of it) has squandered a 12 Billion dollar surplus, and a further $13 BILLION BEFORE the depression. Harper's Conservatives have killed a major source of government revenue by removing a significant portion of the tax base.
If you look at the Conservative reasoning behind lowering the GST, it was to "stimulate spending". Spending won't happen, however, if people are insecure about their jobs. Who's left "spending" now-a-days? Mostly the rich. We can allow people who can afford it, to help refill the government's emergency coffers. The poor are basically just trying to "survive". They need to eat. Food does not have a GST levied on it. People at risk of losing their jobs are not buying the big ticket items the GST reduction was geared towards (TVs, homes, cars).
Harper's Conservatives goaded people who could not afford it into buying homes and other big ticket items. The Conservative government created Canada's own "sub-prime-like" fiasco with their "0 down, 40 year" mortgages. People who could barely afford RENT were suddenly owners of $400K homes with mortgages making the homes more like $800K (after interest charges). Harper was all over the TV the past couple of years (since the GST cuts) coaxing and cajoling young couples into massive debt they couldn't afford.
The public will soon begin thinking that we need a "parachute" to save them from the tanking economy. The government can't handle an economic collapse with no money in the coffers. We need to be able to provide services for the poor and unemployed. We need to provide a safety net for hundreds of thousands of "middle class" Canadians who may soon need it. We need to correct Harper's mistake - his folly.
Time to reverse the GST changes.
4 comments:
I agree 100%..what a mess that GST cut, has become..the stupidity of it all.
PM Iggy should increase the GST back to 7%. I honestly doubt you'd see the backlash that some fear.
Those promo stickers for GST cuts - the last round cost "taxpayers" $650,000.
Yup, we keep paying for his campaigning.
The GST cut will cost taxpayers more in the end. Pay now or pay later, only later will be more expensive.
I saw at a talking head say yesterdsay, on a US station, say economists - if they knew so much why are most of them not rich.
Gre idea, stmulate the economy by increasing taxes, the Liberal solution.
Why not lower tax brackets at the same time, so people on EI can continue to contribute?
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