13 C
Niagara Falls
Thursday, October 10, 2024
Letter: A lot of questions about government and our taxes

Dear editor:

What happens when your taxes increase? What do increased taxes do to your ability to spend?  When the public cuts back their spending what effect does that have on our economy? Increased tax dollars for the most part go where? What does a government do with a tax windfall? How transparent are our governments with the tax dollars they take in? 

Wouldn’t you love to have the pensions and the benefits our civil servants receive, or better still,  the pensions and benefits our politicians get, compared to what you receive?

We pay into a system that they do not. We’re then told that the money we paid into the system that is paid back to us is a benefit that we should be grateful to be receiving. The money you paid into the system is money the government spends instead of investing. 

The more money governments get from you and me the more they have to spend and to allot to themselves. Who benefits from the carbon tax? Has that tax reduced the number of cars on the road? Is the automobile the real culprit in climate change? 

Or is this just another tax grab to help the government make the books look better than they are? Why should we pay for governments' improper and lavish spending habits? Why does our federal government believe it has the right to give members pensions you and I could only dream of receiving?

Shouldn’t we all get the same pension, one based on what we have put into the system, with interest? Why do elected officials believe they have the right to increase their salaries when we are in a deficit? The debt they have run up should not be the time for them to get a raise.

Should a governor-general be able to submit expense reports, lavish or not, after serving his or her term in this privileged appointment? When you leave a company does that employer allow you to put in expense reports after you move on to the next job? 

So many government people think they are entitled to go to the trough for anything they wish. Isn’t it time we drained the trough so they can’t misuse our money? What would our country be like if the elected provincial and federal officials received salaries equivalent to those of the average Canadian employee?

Pensions they receive should also be the same as you and I get, based on their contributions to the system. Government employees should receive only what they have contributed to the system, just like all of the citizens of this country.

Rewards should be given to employees who have put forth ideas that save the government money. Department heads should have to show cost savings if additional employees are hired.

The business of running a government should be like running any large company. Companies that we invest in give us yearly and quarterly statements so that we know the health of our investments. Governments must also be transparent so we know the health of our country and, more importantly, where the dollars are going.

Taxes keep increasing every year. Can someone explain to me how a carbon tax on my heating fuel and gasoline for my automobile will reduce the amount of emissions that are destroying our world? Since the tax came in, have the citizens of our country changed their driving habits or reduced the use of heating fuel?

All this tax has done is increase our cost of living and given the government more money to spend. We need to stop wasteful government spending and put a strong government in place that knows how to properly handle our dollars.

What would our country be like if many of the taxes added in the last 50 years were eliminated? Governments must learn to spend only if necessary and only if they have the money in the first place. More people in leadership should be like former Mississauga Mayor Hazel McCallion.

The money governments take in does not belong to them. It’s a percentage of our hard-earned dollars and I‘m tired of them squandering what I have to give them. What would governments do if we all stopped paying taxes and stopped buying taxable items? 

No one ever gave me the money I live on. I either worked for those dollars and put away for my old age or paid into a system that now gives me a paltry amount of the money back that I paid into the system. Now they want to call our money a benefit that they can take away when, and if, they wish. It’s time for a tax revolt or at the very least a petition.

We live in a safe country for the most part, without fear the government will bomb our homes. But if they tax the gains on our homes it’s just like stealing our gains without the benefit of tax relief for the mortgages we have had on these homes.

Every day we hear our left-leaning government and their left-leaning partners crying  that those of us who worked hard, saved what we could and invested wisely are supposed to give up our dollars to those who spent freely or failed to put in an honest day's work.

If you are like my family, you were hard-working all of your lives and watched what you spent to be able to live a comfortable life in your retirement. Does that make us bad people? Should we be made to feel ashamed of our present financial situation?

I paid my taxes, worked 16-hour days and was careful not to spend what I had squirrelled away. Now the government wants to take from what is left? I’m fed up. What about you?

Tom Thornton

NOTL

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