Budget surplus
 

It seems the feds have a few extra dollars in their control... 9.1 billion just sitting there, waiting to be spent/wasted.
Now, what do you think they should do with this windfall?
Does anyone else out there think as I do, that we have been taxed too much and that we should get the cash back?
I get pissed off waiting to hear how they are going to spend my money.


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I think we're taxed just fine. It's the fucking government that needs to put more money in health care and the military.

On the other hand, I'm a albertan, a member of debt-free province (just to rub in others nose) I don't care where the money goes...there's no point in trying to argue against the government anymore. It seems pretty obvious that they're just destined to waste money

Pay off the debt. Repeat until done.

The demand for Canadian debt will go up as we have less of it (less debt = more likely we pay it off), and the supply will go down. This will increase the price of our debt (to those who want to own it), thus reducing our interest fees even more.

Every Canadian owes 24,000$, or every worker 46,000$. That is too much. (rough estimate of total provincial, municipal and federal debt, projected forward from 2001).

-797,482 in millions of dollars. The feds owe 526,492 of it.

That is too much. Canada is in an economic upturn right now, we should be paying off our debts.

Do exactly what Paul Martin is doing.

Pay down the debt.

Right now, 20 cents of every tax dollar goes to just paying the INTEREST on the debt. Imagine what you could do with THAT money.

Like buy 4 new nuclear powered subs after all.

Keep going Paul, I am right behind you on this one.

7 consecutive budget surpluses. No other G-7 nations can say that.

Kirk, you were my hero growing up. But now that I see you are a supporter of Paul Martin, I may have to move my allegiance to Jean Luc.

Yakk, I completely agree with you that the debt most be paid down. However... I have a few debts of my own that I'd like to pay down. Since I really don't want to move to Alberta, a little tax relief would suit me just fine!

Nothing pisses me off more than giving up 42% of my income only to see the remain 58% eroded by sales tax every time I "stimulate the economy". Don't even get me started on property taxes!

Hey! Where did my reply go???

I see that as 7 consecutive years of being over taxed.

I could live with paying down the bebt, but forgive me if I'm a bit sceptical they'll do as they say.

Pay down the debt. imitate Alberta.

pay it down. Do we have an estimate of when it can be free and clear? I've been out of the news loop for the week.

You are absolutly correct... it would seem that the difference between the grits and torys' is that the grits feel they can spend your money better than you can while the torys' feel it is your money and you spend it the way you want to.

Sad thing is - its our debt too.

I'd rather take care of that first.

Amen williejim

heh - when did the tories become so fiscally irressponsible? 15 years ago the tories would have been all about getting out of debt - getting out of debt is the first and most important step to turning govt into a smaller and less expensive thing.

Imagine if they could pay off the debt.

You would have 20% more revenue to be used for tax cuts, health care, military, whatever.

The liberals have made fiscal prudence their platform and they are doing what they said.

Trudeau started the whole deficit financing thing rolling, but Mulroney made it an art form.

Trudeau, Mulroney. It makes no difference. The Conservatives take my money and give it to their friends. The Liberals take my money and give it to their friends. And while I'll agree that Mr Martin may lean toward financial prudence, I certainly wouldn't put the rest of those Liberal cronies in that category. Look at the yearly spending increases!

What we need is a true Libertarian party.

big freakin' deal.......

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pay down the damn debt....... :rolleyes:

Ya flyman, I pretty excited too. (dripping sarcasm) Apparently, I'll save 2 bucks on a $400 iPod. 2 BUCKS!!! Wow!

knowing govenrment the way i do they will give themselves raises and do nothing for hte average joe such as ourselves

That is the last thing we need... Let's get rid of most government regulations and put our trust in Corporations. I'm sure they will do their very best to make our world a better place... :rolleyes:

i'm almost 100% behind this idea...........it "could" do wonders.

That's the last thing I want, nor is it the aim of most libertarians. I would suggest we lean more toward the values of "individualism".

Who will look after the dis-enfranchised? maybe we should define what is included in the disenfranchised, so as to curb abuse...?

I think that the only fisclly prudent thing to do with surpluses is to pay down the debt while we can. On the other hand, a surplus is the result of ever-taxation and I would have been happier if that had been stated at the beginning of the taxation year. Although the Liberals have been talking about reducing the debt for a long time, it's still nice to hear about it once in a while.

The thing I actually enjoy about Canada is that we are not individualists. We generally believe in looking after those who are less fortunate.

That said, we can't afford not to. If we were to permit the kind of poverty found in other parts of the world people would freeze to death in the winter (unless we move ALL of the poor to sunny BC).

Apples and Oranges, dude.

Who ever said that individuals can't be charitable??? Dollar for dollar, I probably do more to help the less fortunate with my after tax dollars than any of our governments have done with their social programs.

Just because I choke on the fact that our "tax freedom day" is July 3rd, doesn't mean I want people to freeze to death.

That isn't what "individualism" means to me... Individualism to me is a lot closer to a Randian Objectivism... i.e. no such thing as altruism

It is wonderful that you give from your aftertax dollars, but how many people are going to follow you in this endeavour?

Well, as you said, those are our Canadian values, so I would hope most Canadians, even those "individualist" thinkers like me, would help our their needy brother. Otherwise, if the sentiment doesn't reflect a majority of Canadians then what right would our government have to force it on us through taxation.

Like you, I admire our "Canadian' values. I just want more control over my life than is currently afforded me by our government.

Your comment on Altruism leads me to two thoughts. One, a question (and this belongs in the Philosophy section), do you need to be an altruist to have a social conscience? And two, I think many Canadians fall in to the trap that politicians are altruistic. That is that they make decisions based solely on the good of the country and are not influenced (like the rest of us) by what is good for them as individuals.

What the... Why would they have a budget surplus if they are so concerned about spending money. Either pay off the debt or put it into Health Care. Ontario's Health Care system sucks. No eye doctor, no chiropractor, and I forgot what else. We have to pay extra too, depending on the income.