Caller frustrated with increasingly high taxes at all levels

The caller at the other end of the line was frustrated and he was also at the end of the line with paying more and more taxes.

He had read the Trading Thoughts column saying a four per cent increase in Moose Jaw municipal taxes is reasonable. The column was, he said, well written. I sensed a big but coming. I was right. Governments only address one side of the issue, said the caller, a friend and notable Saskatchewan entrepreneur. “They never address expenditures,” he said. Governments at all levels only look for more taxes when making budgets.

“Too much of the municipal taxes go to too few,” he said. “Seventy per cent of the taxes go on wages. It’s not right that 70 per cent goes to one per cent.” He cited that police and firefighters were the recipients.

Yours Truly had difficulty getting in a word during this 30-minute rant but managed to ask about an alternative. He suggested considering some private contracting and for firefighters some part-timers and volunteers. Any time such a possibility is raised opens a can of worms, he said. Police and firefighter unions scare the public with safety concerns.

All governments are headed for systematic bankruptcy, he said. “With municipal taxes, income taxes, hidden taxes and the “tax” to prepare taxes, 70 per cent of our money goes in taxes.”

Who, he asked, is government accountable to? “Enough is enough. There’s no profit left for business. Business and private property is the cornerstone of the country.”

High taxes are driving our best talent out of the country. All the business regulations are no help.

The caller suggested there is a lot of waste in government spending. He wants a forensic audit of all government spending and regular publication of finances made more available to the public.

What waste examples? Yours Truly managed to ask. He cited the case of fire, police, ambulance all responding to an emergency call.

That standard policy was adopted when the three services realized all-in-one response saves lives and property. Emergency calls often don’t give the extent of the matter. Once government debts put us into bankruptcy, he said, the cry will be able to seize wealth from the rich. I didn’t share with him an analysis concluding that by 2030 all U.S. federal tax revenues would be needed for social security and medicare. Everything else, defence, public works, interest on public debt, will be funded by borrowing.

Canada could be headed down the same path.

I managed to suggest government won’t seize wealth. Government will do what it has done since the Middle Ages. Faced with too much debt and limited taxation prospects, governments have always created or allowed inflation.