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Taxes
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| Theresa |
So... I live in Calgary where the city relies heavily on chinooks to melt away the snow. As such, the city does not allocate enough money for snow removal of all streets. Only the major streets are plowed... the rest are left with 3 feet of snow, and if you can't get around, oh well. The chinook will eventually take care of it.
This last week we got dumped with a whole lot of snow. Of course this brought up the plowing issues that people bitch and complain about, and our new mayor declined to up the budget for plowing. This naturally incited rage out of the Calgarians.
So this is when I ride in on my high horse and start getting pissed off and self-righteous.
People are always whining and complaining about how public services and programs are not good enough. There aren't enough doctors or teachers, the wait times are too long, the quality of teaching is dropping, the streets aren't plowed BLAH BLAH BLAH. I want all of these things just as much as the next guy, and I too want them to be of high quality. I seem to differ from many others however, in that I realize these things cost money. I know that the people providing the services are not going to work for free. I also know that the money to pay these people doesn't materialize out of thin air.
Our city has a huge deficit. We have a huge transit project in the works that is being put on hold because we simply can't afford to complete it. We are in debt.
With that being said, it is no wonder the mayor said he wouldn't put more money toward snow removal. There simply isn't any money to do it.
So how do we fix this problem (and many of the problems across all of Canada, and probably America)? Well maybe I am wrong, and perhaps there are better ways to do it, but the way I see it, we need to make cuts and sacrifices, and we need to up taxes.
Now don't get me wrong. I am a poor ass student. I have -$40,000. Paying money for anything at this point is no fun and so of course, I don't love the idea of taxes. On the other hand, I like having the health care system we have, I like having the roads paved and maintained, I like students to have teachers etc. etc.
What boggles my mind is this concept by people that everything around them should be perfect for them, but should require no effort, and no contribution on their part. People freak the hell out when tax hikes are even muttered. It makes political positions incredibly difficult as these people are faced with their balance books going in the red, no money to spend on necessities and extras people oh-so-love, and the demanding masses kicking and screaming that they want it anyway.
Seriously, this whole thing just frusterates me to no end.
So... tell me why I am wrong, or how this could be fixed in a different way. I am genuinely interested to know, especially from those of you who are so anti-tax what your perspective is. I also want to cover the whole deficit thing, not just health care etc. Yes, we could introduce privatized health care, but that doesn't fix all the deficit issues. I also realize that there is a lot of irresponsible spending, which arguably needs to be clamped down on. Again, it wouldn't fix all of the deficit issues.
Discuss. *cue flaming*
c0r version - if you want things, you have to pay for it. |
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| Chimney |
| Move the Sweden or Denmark where the taxes as 76% for high-incomes. |
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| Theresa |
| quote: | Originally posted by Chimney
Move the Sweden or Denmark where the taxes as 76% for high-incomes. |
And don't they have the best public care programs? Best health care, education, maternal care etc.? I seem to recall hearing about Scandinavia being one of the best places to live in terms of public services.
I think 76% is excessive, but there has to be something said about countries who have higher taxes. Unless I am wrong and I am recalling incorrectly. |
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| Theresa |
Not sure how valid these reports are, but...
http://www.financialjesus.com/how-t...iest-countries/
Top 10 happiest countries:
7. Sweden – 7,7 points
This “welfare state” model is an excellent example of effective national taxes. Among other things the state provides universal tax-funded childcare, parental leave, health care, education (including university), retirement pensions and sick leave. Including value added tax (VAT – kind of like sales tax), it is possible to pay up to 80% of your income as taxes. Contrary to popular belief, Swedes are quite OK with their high taxes. After all it gives them tons of free and high quality services – what’s not to be happy about!
1. Denmark – 8,2 points
Just like Sweden, Denmark is a Nordic welfare state with most of its services free to the citizens. Expect to pay 72% of your money to the government on the highest income tax bracket. According to Wikipedia Denmark has the worlds highest taxes! When buying a car in Denmark one has to pay 25% VAT to the import price of the vehicle and then a 180% registration tax on top. That means when a car sells for $20 000, you have to pay an additional $45 000 as taxes for the government (total of $65 000). That’s why people in Denmark ride bikes or use one of the best public transport systems in the world. Denmark also has 2 autonomous provinces – the Faroe Islands and Greenland. The latter is over 50 times larger than Denmark but has about 100 times less people.
EDIT:
I would like to point out that the U.S. is 17th on the list. |
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| Chimney |
That's bull. Don't believe it.
I have only experience from Sweden taken as my girlfriend is from there. Trust me, the health care is a joke. It can take up to 6 months to see a doctor and when you finally do they tell you to "wait for a couple of more months to see how it goes". An acquaintance hard to wait for 4 months before gettin an X-ray done.
The cities are clean, indeed. However much of the tax money go to people on well-fare, illegal refugees and gypsies that come into the country and are paid to live in the hotel (I'm not even joking).
Sweden/Denmark are countries where high-educated people with high income have to give all their money so that others can live well. Not only that but such people are very undervalued by society. There have been statistics where it has been proved that it is impossible to become wealthy off working. |
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| tubularbills |
i'm a fan of taxes. if you want stuff, you gotta pay for it.
still think there should be an additional 1% tax on fast food. |
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| igottaknow |
| Why don't you buy snow tires? I'm also interested in these chinooks you speak of. |
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| Theresa |
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinook_wind
It's basically a warm front that comes when you live right next to the mountains. We get them once every couple of weeks in the winter... so it'll go from -22 to +15 in a day and of course, all the snow will melt as a result.
It's actually really nice... gives you these intermittent breaks during the winter.
EDIT: Snow tires don't do much when you have 3 feet of snow, or 4 inches of ice. |
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| igottaknow |
i was imagining helicopters with snow plows.
i remember a friend who went to canada for rehab said they didn't plow the roads. they just pack it down and you ride on top of it until it melts in the spring. |
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| Theresa |
| quote: | Originally posted by igottaknow
i was imagining helicopters with snow plows.
i remember a friend who went to canada for rehab said they didn't plow the roads. they just pack it down and you ride on top of it until it melts in the spring. |
From what I understand, most places in Canada plow their roads relatively well. It's just that Calgary relies on the Chinooks so much that they don't think it's necessary.
This however causes streets to have 6 inches of ice (if the snow melts but it all freezes before it can be washed away) and there is literally an ice-ramp from the main road to the off-road.
Admittedly, it is frustrating at times, but I can understand why we aren't paying more for snow removal. Obviously we don't have the money... and Calgarians just don't want to pay for it.
EDIT:
Our city loves Chinooks. The entrance to my University has a "Chinook Arch", which is supposed to resemble the formation of the clouds in the sky when we get a Chinook.
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| DJ RANN |
| quote: | Originally posted by Chimney
That's bull. Don't believe it.
I have only experience from Sweden taken as my girlfriend is from there. Trust me, the health care is a joke. It can take up to 6 months to see a doctor and when you finally do they tell you to "wait for a couple of more months to see how it goes". An acquaintance hard to wait for 4 months before gettin an X-ray done.
The cities are clean, indeed. However much of the tax money go to people on well-fare, illegal refugees and gypsies that come into the country and are paid to live in the hotel (I'm not even joking).
Sweden/Denmark are countries where high-educated people with high income have to give all their money so that others can live well. Not only that but such people are very undervalued by society. There have been statistics where it has been proved that it is impossible to become wealthy off working. |
What an utter pile of meaningless shyte.
I honestly don't know where to begin apart from to say I implore anyone reading your post to just skip it. |
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