Sheila Copps Gone Mad

Sheila Copps has completely missed the point in an Op-Ed in today's Toronto Star. It's titled "Taxes Will Set Us Free", and in it she derides the Fraser Institute, and anyone else who thinks along their lines, for complaining that tax freedom day comes too late in the year. She's implicitly arguing that it doesn't come late enough, and that as a result, government is having trouble providing the services that we have come to expect. She doesn't seem to understand that the outrage is more about how little we're actually getting for our massive tax burden!!! I mean, seriously. Tax Freedom Day was June 19th this year, which is half-way through the year. This means that half of your income is going to the government! How come we still have health care problems? Shitty roads? Rising crime rates? No military? Tainted water?

Her answer is always: Pour more money into the problems. This way to Utopia, folks! Bleed the people dry, and then spend their money with no accountability!

But look, if there are all these problems already, and no amount of taxes so far have fixed any of them, then why would more taxes do the trick?

Sure. Throw a few more billion into the gun registry. Spend another bil on advertising to Quebecers! The people won't mind, eh? Hey, don't complain, didn't you know that we've got the best health-care system in the world?

But you know what, Sheila? People are repelled by high taxes and bloated bureaucracy. That's why they move away. That's why Alberta is so appealing, or even -gasp- the United States. They are repulsed by your fiscal black hole. So keep on screaming about raising taxes to fund your lifestyle. You probably won't even notice when you're the only one left.