HomeMy WebLinkAboutClinton News Record, 2014-08-27, Page 44 News Record • Wednesday, August 27, 2014
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editorial
Deep in the
heart of taxes
QMI Agency
"Tax me, I'm a
Canadian:'
It might as well be our
national motto.
Average Canadians
spent 42% of their income
on allforms of taxation last
year and didn't start work-
ing
orking for themselves, instead
of govemments, until "Tax
Freedom Day" on June 9.
According to the Fraser
Institute, the average fam-
ily eamed $77,381 and
paid $32,369 in taxes in
2013, 41.8% of its income,
compared to 36.1% for
food, shelter and clothing
combined.
That's right, we spend
more on taxes than on the
necessities of life.
Canadians who own
homes, for example, might
think paying off the mort-
gage is their biggest
expense.
But they're wrong.
It's actually paying
income taxes, payroll
taxes, sales taxes, property
taxes, gas taxes, surtaxes
and taxes on taxes
imposed by federal, pro-
vincial and municipal
govemments.
Since 1961, the average
family's total tax bill has
increased by 1,832%,
dwarfing increases in shel-
ter costs (1,375%), clothing
(620%) and food (546%).
Cynics might suggest
the fact Canadians spend
42% of their incomes on all
forms of taxation, simply
means our governments
have 58% more to go.
Critics of the Fraser
Institute's annual report
on taxation levels say it
ignores the fact many of
the taxes Canadians pay
go to fund things like
medicare, public educa-
tion and pensions which
directly benefit them.
In other words, much of
the money we pay in taxes
comes back to us in gov-
ernment services.
But that raises the sec-
ond issue surrounding
Canadian taxation levels,
which is whether we are
getting good value for the
taxes we pay.
Are hospitals getting less
crowded or more crowded
year after year, is it harder
or easier to find afamily
doctor or specialist, are
schools cleaner or dirtier,
public education better or
worse?
Indeed, one of biggest
issues about taxation lev-
els in Canada is their trans-
parency or lack of same.
Canadians understand
they have to pay taxes.
Whattheydon'tunder-
stand is why governments
constantlyhide from them
how their own money is
being spent
Spentbygovemments
which, given the size and
cost of their public sectors,
clearly believe, in the
famous words of George
Bernard Shaw, that "a gov-
ernmentwhich robs Peter
to pay Paul, can always
depend on the support of
Paul:'
Indeed, that's the
problem.
www.clintonnewsrecord.com
column
Governments should
govern, not educate
Tara Ostner
The Clinton News Record
Recently Health Canada
announced its plans for a $5 -million
advertising campaign to teach young
people about the dangers of drugs.
"The intent of the campaign," it says,
"is educational and the material is
based on evidence and science:'
Health Canada also invited the Col-
lege of Family Physicians of Canada,
the Canadian Medical Association
and the Royal College of Physicians
and Surgeons of Canada to co -brand
and offer expert advice on the
campaign.
Shortly after the campaign was
unveiled, however, these three
groups, representing a total of 80,000
Canadian doctors, pulled their sup-
port of the campaign. "We did not
and do not, support or endorse any
political messaging or political
advertising on this issue," said a joint
statement that was recently released.
The groups' main fear, of course, is
that, coming from the government,
the message that drugs are bad will
become political in nature (and,
therefore, contentious) and thus the
focus will be taken off of where it's
supposed to be, namely, educating
youth so that they are well informed
about the risks of taking drugs. Their
fear is, I think, completely warranted.
If Health Canada's advertising
campaign is grounded in science,
why not just provide funding to non-
partisan scientific and medical
organizations to develop their own
advertising campaign? The
government's involvement just
seems redundant.
Its involvement is also very costly.
Does it really make sense to spend $5
million to tell people that drugs are
bad when doctors, parents and
teachers already do so for free and
likely much more informatively? I
doubt it and I think that someone
would be hard-pressed to put forth
an intelligent argument saying
otherwise.
A young person's health should
only concern himself, his doctor, his
parents and perhaps his teachers
anyway; between all of these impor-
tant influences in a child's life, young
people already know the ill effects of
drugs; they certainly aren't going to
take health advice from a politician
over a doctor, for instance. Who
really would?
I have never found paternalism
attractive, especially from govern-
ment, and the College of Family Phy-
sicians of Canada, the Canadian
Medical Association and the Royal
College of Physicians and Surgeons
of Canada should be credited for
stating the same.
If the goal behind the advertising
campaign is education, which
Health Canada claims it is, then I
think that the campaign is a bust
from the start. The government's role
is to govern, not educate, and only
bad things (sometimes very bad
things) can result when it tries to do
both. True education is, by defini-
tion, non-partisan and objective
something which government, by
definition, never is.
cl i nto n n ews reco rd. co m
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