Wednesday, October 31, 2007
Credit Card Conservatism
Well, the Tories are over the moon (although some are cautious) with the latest round of tax cuts. However, there was not a hint of cutting expenditures in this mini budget. Even a socialist like me knows you can only offer services if you have the money to do so. If the economy takes a sudden downturn and the money coming in is suddenly reduced, we could very easily be back into deficit spending and very quickly. So, enjoy the good times while you can (and the 10 or so extra bucks on your pay stub), because the Tories just took out our credit card and spent the wad. The don't-tax-but-spend party is in charge now. Meanwhile, Toronto is broke, the roads are falling apart and there still aren't any daycare spaces.
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My understanding is that Flaherty left himself about ten billion in wiggle room.
ReplyDeleteBut expenditures get dealt with in the real budget, not the mini-budget -- and there's at least in theory a commitment to hold expenditure growth to the growth of the economy over a four-year mandate. That could be going the way of income trusts, or it could mean that the next two budgets will be somewhat... austere...
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Till then, McGuinty could always scoop the second GST penny and send it to Toronto, per Miller's request. (Yes, I know, buy Satan some ice-skates first...)