Social Policy in Ontario

A distorted tax discussion, Opinion Oct. 6

When did we go from being citizens to taxpayers? Taxpayers are individuals who put their own financial well-being ahead of the community.

Citizens are those who see themselves as part of the community and are willing to work toward the improvement of that community because they see their well-being as synonymous with the environment in which they live. Is the cause of this change unbridled capitalism?

Have we as a nation become so in love with the idea of more that we have forgotten that more for us generally means less for the other? So we seek incomes in six figures and feel entitled to keep as much or all of it and the rest be damned. To quote Kevin O’Reilly, one of “dragons” of entrepreneurial fame: “greed is good.”

If we are to regain the kind of community well-being (infrastructure, education, health and decent housing) that once set Canadian, Ontarian and Torontonian ahead of other societies someone has to pay for it. Taxation is the only economic equalizer we have and politicians have to learn that we all have to make sacrifices.

The richer we are, the more sacrifices we have to make. After all, who really needs an income of several millions per year?

Stephen L. Bloom, Toronto

There are more than 50 countries in the world, including the Canadian province of Alberta, that use a flat tax system for personal income tax. The personal income tax in Alberta is 10 per cent no matter how high your income is. If a country wants to rebuild her economy and for the benefit of the white and blue collar workers, it should switch to flat tax.

George Nicholov, Vaughan

< http://www.thestar.com/opinion/letters_to_the_editors/2013/10/14/we_must_even_out_the_tax_burden.html >