Working & Middle Classes Pay for Charest's Mistakes

Yes, taxes have gone up - but why? Because Charest has cut them by $5.4 Billion while in office. He cut progressive income taxes. Now he's imposing $4.4 Billion in regressive taxes to compensate for his screw-ups (remember the "fiscal imbalance" dividend, claimed because of underfunded services, that was immediately used to cut taxes?). TVQ & Hydro OK, there are progressive compensatory mechanisms in place, and those are smart taxes. But the health taxes are some of the stupidest I've ever seen. McGuinty made his progressive - not Charest. And the user fee is not just regressive, hitting the poor more, and the frequently sick (which the poor are more, so a double whammy for them), it's also terribly counterproductive, everywhere it's been tried: doesn't affect behaviour of the rich, but does discourage the poor from using services, leading to waiting to use services, things getting worse, and eventual treatment, being more extreme, costing more than if used earlier.

Castonguay was quietly critical on Radio-Canada tonight. I figure they're going to have amend the budget, to bring in some progressive compensatory tax credits/rebates.

Cutting progressive taxes, and replacing them with regressive taxes, disproportionately shifting burden from upper-middle class and rich to, in ascending order of burden, middle middle, lower-middle, and lower classes? Atrocious.

Having made foolishly unsustainable cuts in income & corporate taxes, as this budget effectively recognises, Charest is unwilling to admit his mistakes and raise them back up, so he's shifting the whole burden onto regressive consumption taxes of every kind, some which make sense, many that don't. Idiocy. Straight out of Republican & Conservative playbook - see what RNC have done in States, and Harris et.al. here.

I know there is some anti-QC resentment out there on fiscal issues, because of transfers, but that is no reason to cheer bad fiscal policy, because it will spread, and hurt everyone. (Well, there's never a good reason for QC-bashing, but cheering when the working & middle classes are getting bashed because it's happening in QC is particularly sick, even for anti-QC bigots).

This is a good summary of the problems: Quebec Budget: Packed with Regression and a Zombie

As is Budget : Charest et le pot au lait though I despise Lisée (crazy & evil: 9/11 Quasi-Truther & Polanski apologist).