Freedom requires leadership
Freedom requires leadership
One thing that defines our society is our commitment to economic freedom. The freedoms we enjoy today didn’t come about by accident, and it takes real leadership, generation after generation, to maintain these freedoms.
In an economically free society, the primary role of government is to protect the individual’s personal choice and property rights, ensure the proper functioning of free markets, and ensure all individuals can enter and compete in the markets. The government also has a duty to keep taxes low, remove barriers to trade, and trust people to make the right decisions for themselves and their families.
For you and your family, that tax issue is likely top of mind right now, with the upcoming April 30th deadline to file income taxes. But income taxes are just the tip of the iceberg. The total tax bill of the average Canadian family, which includes income taxes, payroll taxes, sales taxes, property taxes, fuel taxes, carbon taxes, import duties, and more, is estimated at $43,681 for 2020.
If you had to pay all your taxes up front, you’d give government every dollar you earned before May 19.
Here’s the bad news: the situation is about to get a whole lot worse.
As I write this Alberta’s provincial debt is closing in on $100 Billion. Meanwhile the federal debt is over $1.1 Trillion, growing at more than $1 Billion per day. You can track the federal and provincial government debt in real time at https://www.debtclock.ca
Contrary to what governments like to pretend, deficit spending is not “free money” nor is it an “investment.” It is deferred taxation. It is passing the proverbial buck for today’s fiscal mismanagement to our children, our grandchildren, and if the pace of spending does not slow soon, our great grandchildren.
To make matters worse, the Trudeau government is printing money at a record pace, increasing Canada’s money supply nearly 19 per cent in the span of a year. The inflation we see today, driving up the cost of everything from fuel, to food, to lumber, may just be a drop in the bucket. This is bad news for all of us, particularly seniors on fixed incomes, who stand to see the value of their retirement savings drained. This is the worst possible time for governments to further increase the cost of everything with carbon taxes, but that’s exactly what they intend to do. Even Conservative Party leader Erin O’Toole, who promised to oppose carbon taxes, is now proposing his very own carbon tax.
I still believe that Alberta can be most free and prosperous place in North America. But it’s going to take real leadership, the kind that knows how to say NO to continual spending increases, nationalization, and corporate welfare schemes.
It’s going to take an honest commitment to free markets, free enterprise, and reducing the size of government.
It’s going to take real leadership, and right now that kind of leadership is sorely lacking.