Public Prefers Higher Taxes & Better Services To Same or Lower Taxes & Services

What Canadians Want:
Investing in social areas such as health education and jobs 59%
Keeping taxes as low as possible 23%
Keeping the deficit as low as possible 18% (Ekos)

One must examine taxation with maturity, in terms of fiscal situation and vision for Canada. Public always wants impossible, excellent services and low taxes, but if forced to choose between higher taxes-better services and lower taxes-worse services, time and again, they go for former, by hefty majorities, into 70s+. But they must be forced to choose, in clear, open debate. Otherwise, confusion & sophism allows bad fiscal & social policy through the back door, pleasing some important opinion-making elite interests, but contradicting and hurting vast majority of Canadians.

Ekos is but one example among many, one always finds the same results, and it makes sense, according to classic political economic or class analysis. Better services, despite the increased taxes needed to finance them, are a net positive for virtually all Canadians, and only a negative for about the richest 5% of the population, and even then, only if you take a short-term accountant's view and not a long-term social-cohesion, lower crime and good government view. You'll be struck that the split between services & taxes is 3-1 not just nationally, but in every province/region, age & education(income) group. And that among Opp voters, more like 4-1.

Public opinion is not in and of itself an argument for any option. Everyone has to analyse and make their minds up on their own. But very relevant - this is still a democracy, supposedly, eh?

Given the thinking going on, it's worth remembering this basic truth. I said so to Scott Ross, a while back: "I agree with your basic point about need for adult policy discussion, though I disagree on the details - people of good faith can disagree."

I said this before, to BCer, and it applies to Ross and everyone else, too.