Public Services a Bargain for Canadians
Apr 16, 2009
Canadians love to moan and groan about how high we think we’re taxed. And if your only point of reference is our lower-taxed neighbours to the south you’d have good reason to think this is true.
But what if you actually calculate what we get in return for our tax dollars that some Americans can only dream about? Do you think most Canadians would stop complaining?
According to a new study from the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives we should. Canada’s average middle-income family would have to spend more than half its pay cheque to buy health care, education and the other “free” public services now paid for with tax dollars.
The report, called Canada’s Quiet Bargain: The Benefits of Public Spending, is a solid response in the tax-cut debate, which concludes public services make a significant contribution to the majority of Canadians’ standard of living – worth about 50% of their income.
Economist Hugh Mackenzie, the study’s co-author and CCPA research associate says, “Our taxes pay for services that are extremely valuable to Canadians. The suggestion we often hear, that taxes are a burden, hides the reality that our taxes fund public services that make Canada’s standard of living among the very best.”
According to the study, Canadians get an average of $17,000 worth of benefits from their tax-funded public services. For middle-income Canadian families that means public services are worth about $41,000 – or 63% of their income. Even households earning $80,000-$90,000 a year enjoy public services benefits equivalent to about half of their income.
So what happens when we start cutting these taxes that help fund essential public services? At first blush, it would appear that cutting taxes would leave the average Canadian with more money in their pockets.
But according to the study, which uses the recent GST cut as an example, this just doesn’t happen. About 80 per cent of Canadians would have been better off if the federal government had not cut the GST because the government has now reduced its ability to pay for public services – evidence that tax cuts come at a substantial cost.
If you want to download the complete report or use the public spending calculator to find out how much your family benefits from public services click here.
Comments
Comments are now closed