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The crumbling foundation

December 7, 2017   ·   0 Comments

By Constance Scrafield

What about this: “Wow!!” Dances a Happy Dance: “Wow! I won lotto!!!”

Someone, not surprisingly, asks, “How much?”

The answer comes back: “One million bucks!!!”

Silence.

Pause  in the dancing, one foot still in the air.

“Only??? What’s all the dancing for?”

Another comments, “Well, you’re not gonna buy a house or anything – not a house – not around here…”

The first one adds, “You buy a new car, a decent one, whadda got left?”

Jokes: “Buying us dinner – ha – ha !”

They are fair comments. According to the way things are done, built, investigated, considered by a committee, any kind of project or action, really, and a lousy million bucks will never cut it. In fact, even a billion bucks is rarely talked about on its own.

The monster money that is apparently required for everything a government touches just seems insane to me. Where are all these dollars coming from? From the taxes of a mere 36 million people?

Are the people with three jobs who dare to earn anything over $20,000 annually ($19,000 being regarded as under the poverty line – as if anyone, especially with dependants, could survive on $20,000) and are, thus, amongst the lower end of the “wealthy”, are their taxes supporting the billions?

Not much left for luxuries, like food and rent.

Then, there is the multi-layered Middle Classes. Patricia told me that her taxes had taken a hit because public transit costs are no longer tax deductible, says Justin Trudeau.

“He promised to support the Middle Classes,” she commented, “but they don’t necessarily take public transit  as much as people who are not earning enough to rank among their numbers. So, the middle classes are not affected by this tax bash. The lower income people are, though.”

The definition of Middle Classes is rather vague and changes with the moment in time. In the last 30 years of the 20th Century, it was all about income and spending. Once the interest rates plummeted in the 2000’s, it has been less about the income, while still about the spending, supported by borrowing, the present day potential road to disaster.

Mr. Trudeau’s definition has been families with an $90,000 income or better and he is set to assist them, so it seems, by promising to adjust the conditions under which the top of the food chain, as it were, manages their wealth, with a bit of a skewed definition about who those “wealthy” actually are.

Farmers, dentists and doctors, mid-sized non-corporate businesses. Hmmm. The people in these categories do earn real money but their expenses are big too: farmers obviously maintain huge capital outlays in machinery and buildings; doctors have to run their clinics, pay staff and so forth (doctors garner money from everything and they do have large incomes but none of them can be counted as the top 5% of the wealthy); businessmen also have bricks and mortar to pay for, staff, maybe, trucks and so on.

While this category of the population are probably doing well, they are not in the top rung of income earners, not banking millions (billions) of money every year, month, day. That class is not middle class and is still safe from the clutches of the tax man, who, rather then pursuing them, offers them lush loopholes in which to protect and conserve their wealth.

However, what every government insists on ignoring is the fact that from the lowly, still-taxed, single mother of three with half a dozen jobs, to the entrepreneur doing pretty well, these are the foundation of the country’s economy. These are the people who spend in the High Streets, so to speak. They are the cornerstone of the common businesses: the small cafe, the retail outlets, economy seats on all types of transportation.

Without their healthy existence, the economy collapses. The number of customers coming into a shop to spend something keeps that shop open. There needs to be a balance between what is given and what not to tax. Taking a benefit from a person if that individual also earns a little is ridiculous. We do not assure minimal income but supporting those in need who would likewise support themselves as they can, is wisdom.

So, government must back off the low- and middle-income earners, including farmers, etc, and pay more attention to the really wealthy.

It is the myopic, self-seeking, frightened even, politicians who refuse to close the loopholes through which the people they know best pass their finances. Bring those people much more into account and take the hounding pressure off those who really keep the economy flowing.

Start by giving them their transit costs back as a tax deduction.

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