A couple of days ago, Joe Carr wrote the following in a letter to the editor:
“Let’s get real. The economy is still in a fragile state. Provincial governments and municipalities are struggling to keep taxes under control and give relief to hard-pressed taxpayers.”
So far, so good. No need for me to crack the whip at poor Joe. He’s just venting.
And maybe he’s going to share a worthy idea related to tax control.
He says:
“It is time for the police, firefighters, teachers and others in that reasonably safe employment group to step up to the plate and help out. They are well paid (and deservedly so) and if they took a wage freeze for a year they would still be well paid.”
Certainly, the public servants mentioned would likely survive a wage freeze. But... and this is a big but... are public servants the only ones that should make a sacrifice to help “keep taxes under control and give some relief to hard-pressed taxpayers?”
There are other members of society too with money, some of them with bags of money, with some of the bags coming directly from taxpayers’ pockets.
Joe might change his tune if he heard more often that taxpayer subsidies to London developers and industries have been equal to $13.5 million annually in recent years. Joe might one day think that if he wants more bang for his buck for hard-pressed taxpayers he should look to the private sector, not the public.
According to recent news, one economic development group in London has an $800,000 surplus and still our Mayor thinks a special levy (upon the public, for the private sector) is in order to help with local economic development.
Mr. Carr laments, “Many (public servants) took large raises during the hardest portion of the recession...”
No mention is made of raises in the private sector or the ridiculously high level of compensation given to CEOs in private business at the same time.
He concludes, “It’s time to give the people who suffered through this scary time a chance to catch up. The economy needs these people to work and make a decent wage for the economy to fully recover.”
Excellent conclusion, in my humble opinion. I’m sure there’s not one among us who disagrees with helping people catch up or recover.
What I do disagree with, however, is the total absence of any mention of the equal, if not greater, responsibility of the private sector.
Can problems related to unemployment, wage loss and uncontrollable taxes only be laid at the feed of the public sector?
No.
Joe Carr is wrong. QMI Agency is wrong.
We’re all in this together, and where sacrifices and changes (perhaps to employment and tax structures) can be made, they should be made.
We’re also in this equally, and there is no one among us without equal and growing responsibility to right many wrongs that exist.
In conclusion, I say there's nothing wrong with news agencies, editorialists or letter writers saying that there is much the public sector can do better. Savings can be made, many efficiencies can be considered. But there is also much, if not more, that the private sector can do better and Londoners should be able to read about it in their dailies.
To use Joe Carr’s words, it’s time for the private sector to “step up to the plate and help out” as well, and QMI should recognize that fact and editorialize about that side of the equation as often as they slam the public sector.
I'm glad I got that off my chest. I feel better already.
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Please visit Deforest City Blues Pt 1 here.
Please visit Deforest City Blues Pt 2 here.
Please visit Deforest City Blues Pt 3 here.
Please visit Deforest City Blues Pt 4 here.
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