TD, the bank of extravagant service fees, has a CEO that is very fond of Tax increases. Apparently he is also very fond of making donations to the Liberal Party of Canada. After making such dastardly Liberal comments professing his unholy love with taxes, he was lambasted by the Tories in a press release. This has prompted a hurt Iggy Puff to rush in to defend his poor old bank exec. I'm not going to comment on the suitability of a sitting Prime Minister to criticize a CEO staking such a political stand, but I will say this: raising taxes has to among the dumbest ideas I can think of right now.
Remember the recession anyone?
Canada, and most of Western Civilization has just started to creep out of the death claws of the infamous greatest downturn "since the great depression." In the middle of all this we want to hit consumers with more of a tax burden?
This is a recipe for a disaster. Just as consumer confidence is rebounding the prevailing mood among bankers is "hey let's increase taxes?" Apparently this tactic seems to work in the magical fairy fairy land of banking executives, but out in real life if you take money away from people they will tend not to spend as much. If people aren't spending, businesses won't be hiring.
That recipe isn't exactly an agenda for a growing economy - it is a recipe for a real downturn GREATER than the Great Depression.
Throw Competitiveness out the door.
I just don't understand how in the hell anyone with as much economic education as the head of a major Canadian bank would suggest in a country like Canada that taxes be raised. Canada's competitiveness has long been hindered by a tax regime that effectively encourages the brightest and best to go elsewhere.
Whether it's doctors, engineers, or anyone that wants to succeed it's become increasingly difficult to do so here in the Great White North. Lower not higher taxes is what we need.
What ever happened to reducing spending?
The most amazing part of this whole debate is the complete negation of any alternatives over raising taxes to deal with the deficit. The federal government has well over doubled in size since the 1960's when adjusted for inflation and population growth. We have a national government that is increasingly getting more and more involved in our daily lives in areas it doesn't need to be.
Why not suggest that the federal government stop spending like a drunken sailor? What about not spending money on every infrastructure project under the sun as part an insane stimulus package? Why not do what every other Canadian out there has had to do in this recession - cut back?
Raising taxes would be just about as insane a suggestion right now as would be raising interest rates. The last thing the economy needs is a bad decision to be made right now. And what's worse, raising taxes has not shown to be an effective strategy to eliminate deficits. Let's not forget that the Tories introduced the GST to eliminate the deficit that existed years ago. It took a Liberal government cutting spending that actually brought the government into the black.
No comments:
Post a Comment