— Musings —06.25.2011 12:42 PM
Horwath: not “canceling” the HST after all
Page 13 of her just-released platform: now she says canceling the HST “might cause problems.”
— Musings —06.25.2011 12:42 PM
Page 13 of her just-released platform: now she says canceling the HST “might cause problems.”
Take a look a this – http://www.whitehouse.gov/issues/taxes/tax-receipt
The US Federal Government actually has something online to educate folks about where their tax dollars are going. Admittedly it’s just part of the whole financial picture (mess) but it’s a start. It would be great to see where the *revenue* side of things as well.
Why it’s relevant -to paraphrase Mark Twain, ‘get your fact first and then you can distort the truth as much as you want.’ It’s all about transparency now and not kicking the financial can of problems down the road for another generation to fix.
We’ve listened to opposition parties ranting about how money is wasted, yet we have no real sense of what is at stake personally or what may be involved when they count on ‘savings and efficiencies’ to balance their tax giveaways. Sure we see roads and schools and hear about healthcare on news radio but it’s a different story when you actually see all of the other numbers and initiatives involved.
Opposition politicians secure office by traditional promises and giveaways to us only to be ‘surprised’ about the dire state of the provincial treasury, McGuinty included. Sometimes they ride a wave of popular discontent but in the end the electorate is not much better off because we’ve had a discussion about budget generalities only.
Why didn’t one of the opposition parties come up with a plan to do something like this? Let folks see what the heck is happening so a real debate about our fiscal policies can take place, not one based on partisanship, fear and bad math. Worse, what is or is not possible seems to be a moving target with politicians. No doubt though they’d have to be more serious in their commitments to us if more details about provincial finances were available.
As it is Hudak’s math has been publicly skewered and Horwath is a waffler – neither bode well for them if trust and competency are high on the undecided voter’s list. Fact is Hudek or Horwath could have done just this but they’ve stuck to the same old, same old play to their base politics.
And such an initiative is not the domain of opposition parties only. Yes, I will vote for Premier McGuinty again based on the stability over his two terms but I’d hope he will not be content with the status quo.