Are We Electing Financially Incompetent People?

I ask that question with great sincerity.

I am not sure if this has happened in your community lately but in the city where I live our Council decided that the 4.86% increase in taxes suggested originally in the proposed budget should be 7.42%.

Now to give you a better idea as to how easy this was passed; it was over 85% on the City Council that voted for this increase. This follows a 4.32% increase last year.

So, what does this do for the citizens in general in our city?

Well, the elected officials in their wisdom have decided to add more full-time staff and convert some part-time positions into full-time.

Let’s look at how more government employees help the bottom line for us payers.

• First of all, there is no guarantee that they will provide better access to government programs and services in other words: no tangible economic results and benefits for the citizens.
• Secondly, I strongly believe that a leaner and more efficient government, that focuses only on its core functions is essentially good government.
• Finally, history has shown that bigger government haven’t been good for Canadians in general, it’s only been good for government workers.

Now to get you up to speed. Did you know that businesses pay more than residential taxes to begin with in our community?

Some people will say, ‘That is good because businesses make so much money, they can afford it.’ All that I can say is that people that think that way don’t know the statistics of business failure. For example, did you know that in Canada;

• 5% of small businesses fold before the end of their first year,
• about 50% of small businesses survive for five years, and
• approximately 30% get to celebrate ten years in business.

One of our recently elected City Council members showed how financially incompetent she was, when she stated; “Paying more taxes means that we are delivering services to the people who need it most.” It is as if she is living in a bubble.

I ask this question; who is going to pay for the increase in businesses taxes? Is it only the business owner? Or will it be the customer who buys from that business?

Of course, you know who will pay for this increase – it is the customers. The businesses have to pass on any and all tax increases. If you are wondering why, it is because without passing this increase on to the customer they go from a business that continues to exist to a business that goes broke. It surely shows that this Councilor had no skin in the game. In other words, no personal interest in seeing business grow. But she is not alone, as it was 85% of the City Council that voted for this increase.

So, the financially incompetent Council that we have appears to be only interested in increasing the city services, in other words growing a public sector that has been shown for not helping these same tax payers more. It is obvious they are duds when it comes to understanding the impact of taxation.

To conclude I want to quote a few people to bring this to a greater understanding;

• “I believe – we all pay taxes. I’m happy to pay it, but I hate to have it abused, money wasted, no accountability.” – Lou Holtz an American former football coach and television analyst.
• “Elections should be held… the day after we pay our income taxes. That is one of the few things that might discourage politicians from being big spenders.” – Thomas Sowell – an American economist, social philosopher, and political commentator.
• “We have a system that increasingly taxes work and subsidizes non-work.” – Milton Friedman – was an American economist and statistician who received the 1976 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences for his research on consumption analysis, monetary history and theory and the complexity of stabilization policy.
• “Canada has a productivity issue and it has a competitiveness issue.” – Brian Porter – CEO of Scotia Bank
• From an article called; ‘Sorry, Canada, but we can’t tax our way to prosperity’ by Derrick Hunter. He stated; “Practitioners such as entrepreneurs, doctors, investors, small business owners, and others believe we should use the tax system to encourage risk-taking behavior because it results in a growing economic pie and a better average standard of living.”

What can you do about it?

Now is the time for a revolution in what type of people we elect to all types of governments. We have to identify whether they are financially incompetent or not. Yes, we have to be more resilient to the inconsequential or worthless promises they make.