I gripe a lot about federal government spending. My perspective may be one that hasn’t occurred to you, so let me share.
By great good fortune and all kinds of help and support I have been employed as a professional for around 40 years. All of that time my income has been in the top quartile of Canadian taxpayers. In my best earning years I approached the 90th percentile. I estimate that over all the years of my employment I will have paid about $1 million in income tax.
Think about that for a minute. I’ve been what, in Canada, is classed a “high-income earner.” That $1 million in taxes is (rightfully) more than most Canadians will pay in their lifetimes.
Now consider just one federal government initiative –the VW battery plant in Ontario. In addition to the $700 million the feds are giving up front, they expect to spend between $8 billion and $13 billion in subsidies while the plant is in production. Let’s say the final tab will be $10 billion.
Ten billion dollars is ten thousand times my contribution. That is, ten thousand high earners will allocate their entire lifetime of tax payments for this one project. The lifetime taxes of 10,000 people. Put another way, all of the income taxes paid in Canada in a given year come from 18.4 million people.
Taxpayers are scarce. The feds talk about how many jobs will be created and what spin-off benefits will accrue to southern Ontario specifically, and Canada generally. In my experience their numbers are wild overestimates.
We all value at least some of the services governments provide. That is not to say that we get value for our money. The well just isn’t that deep.