Social Policy in Ontario

Lower taxes a windfall for the rich

Posted on March 9, 2011 in Equality Debates

Source: Toronto Star — Authors: Norm Beach

TheStar.com – opinion/letters – Re: Ford inspires Tea Party North, March 5
Published On Wed Mar 09 2011.    Norm Beach

In the U.S., the Tea Party gets most of its funding from wealthy donors, whose interests, like those of millionaire Rob Ford, do not exactly coincide with those of the average citizen, whom they prefer to call “the taxpayer.”

Nobody likes taxes, but they are a particular aggravation for the rich. For them, lower taxes are a huge windfall, and even if that results in service cuts at daycares and public schools, it won’t hurt those who have nannies and private schools for their kids. Similarly, our country club set has little interest in preserving the Canada Pension Plan, which only working stiffs rely on.

Of course right-wing “populists” are obsessed with lowering taxes, because they and their wealthy backers gain the most and lose the least. Unfortunately, the rest of us have the least to gain and the most to lose.

We’ve seen that story play out in the U.S. for the last 30 years, where the albatross around the average American’s neck is not high taxes, but inadequate wages paid by corporations whose profits mostly benefit their CEOs and investors.

If that’s what you want for Canada, Tea Party North will gladly take you there, aided by Stephen Harper, who apparently thinks that even while Canada faces a deficit, banks flush with record profits need to have their corporate taxes further reduced.

The Tea Party bandwagon is on a road to ruin.

Norm Beach, Toronto

Tags: economy, ideology, participation, standard of living, tax

This entry was posted on Wednesday, March 9th, 2011 at 4:09 pm and is filed under Equality Debates. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.