A recent letter to the editor offered grim details about Ontario’s debt:
“Ontario is indebted to the tune of $244 billion... taxpayers will be on the hook for almost $500 billion in eight years’ time... this year’s budget would need to be slashed by about 40% and left there for the next ten years in order for us to eliminate the current debt.” (J. Daubs, Oct. 14, London Free Press)
Grim details indeed. But Mr. Daub’s next sentences reveal he has a fairly common blind spot. Can you guess what it is?
“Young people in Ontario will not stick around to pick up the tab through higher taxes. As the young workforce leaves to escape higher taxes, the government revenues will dry up and all that will be left is a bloated, bankrupt public sector.”
Some astute readers will spot that Mr. Daubs says the public sector will be at fault for the mass exodus of workers in the future, but is blind to the fact that the private sector, with historically low tax rates, is not as great at job-creating as many suggest (it’s better at profit-taking) and must also share part of the blame. That, however, is not the blind spot I mean.
Please note: Daubs feels that the debt will become very high in the future and higher taxes are not only inevitable but will drive away our young workforce.
But... doesn’t he see that debt is large enough now to consider higher taxes? Are higher taxes only to be considered once the $244 billion debt reaches or exceeds $500 billion?
["Let's pay down debt today, then save for tough times": photo GH]
Perhaps taxes should be raised when the debt reaches $450 billion, or $400 billion. Perhaps the acceptable ceiling should be $350 or $300 billion. Maybe $250 billion is better, maybe even $200 or $150 billion.
I feel many of today’s taxpayers are blind to the need to raise taxes now. Leaving debt and inevitable higher taxes to future generations is definitely the wrong course in life.
Another example of modern day blindness to follow.
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