Not right that taxes cost more than basics

It’s unacceptable, scandalous even, that the average Canadian family spends more of its income on taxes than on the basic necessities of life.

Data released Thursday morning by the Fraser Institute reminds us how deeply government has its hands in our pockets.

“The average Canadian family now spends more of its income on taxes (42.5 per cent) than it does on basic necessities such as food, shelter, and clothing combined (37.4 per cent),” a bulletin released by the Vancouver-based think-tank explains.

It’s simply not right that Canadians spend more servicing government coffers than they do to provide for their families. It wasn’t always this way. As the report details, “By comparison, 33.5 per cent of the average family’s income went to pay taxes in 1961 while 56.5 per cent went to basic necessities.”

And it doesn’t have to continue being like this. The people can say they’ve had enough. The politicians can summon some guts and courage to tackle this problem. This slow but steady increase of the tax burden on regular Canadians can and must be stopped.

It’s not like every other expense in our lives has gone up this much. Not only are taxes our biggest expense, they’re also the one that’s increased the most.

Not only are taxes our biggest expense, they’re also the one that’s increased the most.”

As the Fraser Institute calculates, the tax amount before inflation has increased by a whopping 2,006 per cent since 1961.

Shelter comes closest to matching it, but is still significantly less, having increased by 1,527 per cent. The price of clothing and food has gone up 677 per cent and 639 per cent, respectively.

The one silver lining, if you can put it that way, is that we’re not just being taxed more but being taxed for more. We are getting more services out of government than we were decades ago.

This isn’t necessarily all good, though. Government continues to broaden its domain, often in unnecessary ways. Red tape, bureaucracy, middle management — these are some of the causes of growth. It’s not like every single tax dollar is going to frontline services. Far from it.

Canadians want quality public services they can rely on. This does not equal a free pass, though, for the fans of big government to operate with wild abandon.

More on taxes than basic needs? It’s just not right. — Postmedia News