tax hike

9:00AM
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Over the next two months, residents of Metro Vancouver will vote “Yes” or No” in a transit tax plebiscite, but the proposed tax hike to finance what are mostly public transit projects is at best questionable from a transportation economics perspective.

2:00AM
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The last time Alberta was in a fiscal mess due to low energy revenues and over-the-top government spending, some politicians and pundits said what Albertans really needed was higher taxes. That was back in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Those voices were wrong then and they are wrong now.

For one thing, any fantasy that a tax hike will solve Alberta’s fiscal woes is the preserve of people who dream in tax-happy Technicolor.

Sure, tax reform is desirable. A provincial sales tax would be smart economic policy since sales taxes are some of the least harmful imposts.