Public Finances

Newfoundland and Labrador, like all Canadian provinces, is in danger of hitting the health care wall, the point where insatiable demands of the health care system smack into the limited resources of the province. On March 22, in its latest budget, the province hit the wall, but through some rapid juggling of numbers it claims to have balanced its budget. This is the first in a new series of articles that Peter Fenwick will be contributing about public affairs and public policy in Newfoundland.

In this excerpt from Mark Milke’s new book, Tax Me I’m Canadian – Your Money and How Politicians Spend It, the idea that low taxes and a competitive edge are inherently American while the continual creation of new taxes or increases of existing taxes are purely Canadian obsessions is turned on its ear. As Milke points out: “For our earliest founders and Finance ministers, attracting immigrants and investment to Canada through the promotion of a low-tax regime was the stated goal for at least the first 50 years of our country’s existence. The Dominion’s leading politicians trumpeted Canada's lower taxes compared to the tax-happy Americans…” Contrary to what many tax advocates argue, cutting taxes and promoting immigration and investment isn’t about copying the pro-business agenda from the United States it is about getting rid of the American influence that has taken us so far from our own roots and left us uncompetitive in the global marketplace.