And we are supposed to be surprised by this? We pay tax on tax.

Good to see the Fraser institute has a firm grasp of the obvious..........DUH!!!

This is no suprise at all!
What IS a suprise is that even knowing this,people still pat their elected policians and governments on the back and wow!...what a great job you are doing!
Let's re-elect these guys!
And then,take a look at how fast prices and everyday costs are rising,and how fast your wages are increasing to keep pace?
That's right,they are not keeping up!
We lost that race a long time ago!
We have now reached the tipping point, and something in our economy is going to give!
We are being warned and the signs are all there,but most are not listening yet.
Now,lets all go out and run up some more debt shall we?

We pay taxes on environmental fees with batteries and tires. And will probably pay tax (GST) on our gas AFTER the new carbon tax is installed. The Feds charge GST on the Transit Levy (tax?) people pay when they pay their Hydro bill. Taxed too much? Logic of this announcement astounds me. Tell us something we don't know. I must start a company that tells people the obvious and I might make a lot of money. At least maybe some government money.

yup ,we are taxed to earn(no writeoffs for the wage slaves) when we spend we are taxed again pack home our piggy back taxed items, and then taxed again and again for what we put on our homes year after year for the same items until we die and then the tax person shows up with thier hands out! Something medieval about the tax system ,oh yes the government federally,provincally,municipally and regionally go to the international foreign money markets and borrow some more to feed the bulging system. SOLUTION bring back the guillotine only that is illeagle in the criminal code, anybody got an idea on how to eliminate the collectors? try to make it as welcome and painful as another tax increase.

And then, when it comes down to the nitty-gritty we are told that there aren't sufficient funds to maintain our infrastructure and fix the tens of thousands of cracks and potholes on streets and highways!

Of course they looked after all their benefits like wages, salaries, bonuses, pensions and freebies first, before anything actually gets done?

It's a bulging system alright, but only for those who are close enough to the trough.

What useless data. 1961 was nearly 50 years ago. The numbers are not provided in inflation adjusted terms.

Also, they are not provided in "lifestyle" adjusted terms. Lots of things that were considered luxuries in 1961 are considered basics today. Let's take food: There's A LOT more packaged and prepared food being bought today - of course it's going to cost more, even for inflation adjusted dollars.

But the price of clothing has gone way down as we get it all from taiwan and china now. In the 80s when I was a teen jeans cost $40. Today you get them for that or less.

What it does not say is what is the single areas which has taken up much of that increase. I vetnure to say it is health and the start of the increasing ratio of retired people to working people. Of course, switching to more user based taxes rather than property and income based taxes, means that the low income retired are getting hit much harder than any other single group.

Now there is the study I want to see. Who bearing the brunt of that increase and which service is causing most of the need for the increase. That would make it a meaningful study.

So, even the Fraser Institute puts out BS reports, with whose money?

I will say it again, Revolt, civil disobedience. It is the only way to get their attention. If anyone thinks asking nicely or talking about it rationaly will solve our problems with our lords and masters, think again. Thats exactly what the lords and masters like because a quite sheep is a good sheep.

If you want potholes fixed in PG then you have to call the city and tell them where they are because they do not go out and look for them. Thats a fact.
Call this # 561-7600

"close enough to the trough...and THAT boys and girls,is exactly where the problem is!
Far too much coming off the top before our tax dollars get to where they need to go!
I also notice that people have stopped raising hell about rip-offs like Mr.Campbells so called "carbon tax".
They were hoping we would do that!
Everytime we lay down,we lose a little more.

Its time to take up arms, and have a revolt.

Yeah right, were Canadians. someone else can do it.

Screw Mayor....OWL for Prime Minister...he can solve our tax problem single handed

Thats right, "he speaks", It sickens me when I think of the tax we pay...I would like to see some accountability for where this money is going...long waits for health care, pathetic roads - might as well be gravel - would probably be smoother...If only we could revolt...there must be some way to fight this fight...any suggestions anyone?

In 1961 there was no national public health care system in Canada. All medical services were private. I came to Canada in 1967 and there was a private scheme in Manitoba run by the Manitoba Medical Association, or at least, sponsored by them. A few years after I came the national health system was introduced (no connection, much as I would like to take credit).

To put these figures in perspective we need to do one of two things.

1. Include all health care costs that people paid privately during 1961 so the playing field is equal, or

2. Subtract all monies spent on health care by every level of government at present so the figures can compare apples with apples rather than donuts.

As is usual with the Fraser Institute, they have taken a set of figures and crafted a message from them that fails to factually inform, but succeeds in distorting the real situation.

And remember the political bias of the Fraser Institute or its left wing counterpart Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives....Fraser Institute would have us be the 51st state of the union and the CCPA would have us being CCCP

and no think tank for the middle, sensible, sustainable, part of the political spectrum.

I'm not sure how you can even begin to compare the services and expenditures we have now (and relate it to tax levels) as compared to the services and expenditures we had in 1961. Talk about an apples and oranges comparison.

A few pieces of modern medical equipment probably cost more than an entire hospital did in 1961. Governments would have used pads and paper in 1961. Now everything is computerized. I'll bet roads and infrastructure are more costly now, fighter jets cost more, more schools have been built, the population has increased considerably requiring more services, there are more parks now to preserve and thus spend on, we likely have more global comittments than we did in 1961, etc.

I find virtually no value in this comparison whatsoever.

One of the worst things about taxes is completely overlooked. Again. Both by the Fraser Institute, and the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives. Purposefully? I often wonder.

The money that is removed from us in taxes has already been "costed" into, and appeared in, the PRICE of some good or service. A price that then can NOT be met, without an increase in the overall quantity of money coming in from somewhere.

That increase will invariably come in the form of more debt, since nearly all money is 'loaned' into existence, and not (presently) created 'debt-free'.

With a proper set of National Accounts, arranged in much the same manner as every business keeps its accounts, there should be a National Balance Sheet. A listing of the country's actual Assets, the 'money' Liabilities against them, and the 'Shareholder's' (citizens) Equity, or "Capital". No question of 'ownership' (public or private)is at stake here. We simply want to know what is extent of actual wealth within the country, not by whom it is presently 'administered'.

Such a Balance Sheet would properly record increases in all National (or Provincial) 'capital appreciation'. (Everything that makes the country as a whole more able to produce goods and services over any chosen fiscal period).

As well as total 'capital depreciation', (mainly the 'wearing out' and obsolescence of plant and equipment, etc. ~ everything that detracts from our ability to produce over that same period).

Normally, total 'capital appreciation' is much larger than total 'capital depreciation'. And the difference between the two represents the amount of financial 'credit', (not 'debt'), that could be created 'debt-free' and paid, either as a 'dividend', or as a 'rebate' on all consumer prices, to the citizen/shareholders (all of us)of Canada, (or BC, if such a scheme were initiated Provincially).

This 'credit' could be created by the Treasury, the Bank of Canada, or even the chartered Banks. (Who, in that instance, would be paid an appropriate fee for doing so). It could be done in exactly the same way they now create the 'credit' they 'loan' to their customers. It's simply a matter of 'bookkeeping'.

Taxes, as they presently exist, are no more than highway robbery. They simply lead us further and further into debt. One we could never repay. And the servicing charges on that debt, whether paid publicly or privately, are already absorbing too much of the incomes that are always so woefully deficient to meet real needs for an increasing number of our people, and prevent the actual potentialities of 'production' that exist right now from fulfilling them.

Ya gotta wonder if the BOTTOM FEEDERS at Rev canada read this colum.
I sure hope so.