Do our taxes actually contribute to public wealth?

Recently I called on the Peterborough Fire Services for help sorting out my smoke and carbon monoxide detectors. They arrived promptly, installed the new detectors efficiently and educated me on how they work. I write this letter in part to thank them and to say their visit has me thinking about taxes.

During elections, politicians approach the topic with the same dread that links taxes with death, both famed for their inevitability. Depending on politicians’ political colour they speak of taxes either in hushed tones (as one would standing over a coffin); by railing against taxes (as one in grief is unable to accept the death of a loved one); or with complacency (as one finding oneself mistakenly at the wrong funeral).

I urge the people of Peterborough to think of what taxes produce as public wealth. We are richer as a city, province and country for the public goods and services our taxes buy. We are made poorer when our public goods, lifeblood of communities, are depleted. If in doubt read (as one whose literacy was aided by public schooling) what cuts in taxes are doing to student enrolment (“Fleming College sees drop in number of returning students,” Examiner, Oct. 15). It’s a worrying trend that Ontario post-secondary institutions must depend more and more on fees paid privately via international enrolment (evidence of the wealth of our public origins) while OSAP is made unattainable to domestic residents.

Nan Peacocke, Sherbrooke Stret