Wednesday, April 27, 2011

TAXED IN HALF


The news today is standard fare - a hockey game, a wedding far, far away, America the Beautiful struggling with gun laws vs. medical marijuana laws.

But one item stands out.

Don Cayo, writing in the Sun, informs us that the tax bill for the average Canadian family is now more than 41% of earned income.

41%

The taxes come from every direction and from every manner - some unimaginable - of thing.

And why is this?

I'll tell you why.

Because even though governments have a responsible and useful and important role in our lives, nobody (other than Trudeau, of course) ever said governments should be the primary engine of national life.

I believe that 50% or more of all working Canadians are now employed by one level or another of government.

That's a lot of paper pushing, a lot of desks, cell phones, BlackBerrys, fax machines, memo pads, lunches, conferences, and bull.

The reason that 41% of our earned incomes are now devoured by government machinery is because the machine itself is so big and so unproductive.

If there is anything that can humanly be done by two guys with a shovel or a microchip, government will find a way to employ 14 to do the same job. After the discussion, of course.

And yet...

And yet.

Are we not hot in the midst of some national voting event called an election?

Have you heard one single candidate of any stripe whatsoever mention for a nano-second PRODUCTIVITY, say, or BLOATED BUREAUCRACIES?

Would anyone dare suggest that half the tit-sucking mandarins in government employ go out into the real world and create something useful and contributory to the general weal?

No.

Because the "real world" is what exists.

It is you and I who live in a fantasy.

4 comments:

Robert W. said...

Can a Democracy survive when the majority of voters get more from the government than they contribute? I think not.

When you add up the total number of public sector employees, senior citizens receiving gov't benefits, and welfare recipients then if these people decide to vote and vote in their own immediate interest, then our economy and democracy cannot survive.

Gerry Verrier said...

I believe it's actually higher than 41%. Sales tax and many others are calculated on a dollar of income that was already taxed by the gov't before I even rec'd it. What I mean by that is the dollar I earned isn't really a dollar after I get my paycheque. It's actually worth, depending on tax bracket and shelters, somewhere in the area of 75 cents. So I take my 75 cent dollar and go shopping with it like it was actually a dollar and pay a full dollar's worth of taxes on my 75 cent dollar.

Am I the only one who feels like a slave in and to the machine?

Anonymous said...

David I have refered your blog entry to my panel of judges. We had a differnece of opinion so we sent the matter to a parlimentrary commity. They deicided to have an royal commision study the matter. The report is 1,200 pages per volume. Its 26 volumes. We have a group that has applied to study our findings. They will need a govenment grant. Wally Oppal has been appointed with Bob Rae to report back to the provinces. Damn you Mr Berner see waht you have caused.
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diverdarren said...

The picture atop the blog is very telling.

A once fine house crumbling from neglect.
Reminds me of Canada.