I agree with the personal tax and the corporate tax increases that came into effect this July. They were necessary because the Liberal government of Shawn Graham had drastically cut them in 2009 which resulted in a loss of hundreds of millions of dollars for the provincial government. The Alward government should have gone even further and returned to the pre-2009 level instead of the level of 2006.
Presently some employers’ organizations are all up in arm saying these increases are demoralizing employees because they will have less money in their pay cheque, it will soften demands of consumers, etc. Let’s look at the reality.
Income taxes and taxes are what make our government function. It is the blood that flows into different government departments and bring life to public programs and services that are essential to every citizens of this province.
Yes, we will have a little less money in our pockets but look at what some of the services we get in return.
We get free education for all children from kindergarten to grade 12. We have part of our university subsidized. We have free healthcare from birth to death. We have free roads, not tolls. We have subsidized nursing homes to take care of us when we will need it. We have social assistance that helps thousands of citizens each year. We get free services from municipalities. We get financial help when there is a natural or environmental disaster. We get free police and firefighter services. We get financial help for community groups. We get all kinds of public programs for free. And yes, we even subsidize small, medium and large businesses with hundreds of thousands dollars each year.
These are just a few of the benefits we get as citizens of this province. If we were not paying taxes we would have to pay directly from our pocket and you can bet it would be a lot more.