Why I'm sick of hearing about "protecting taxpayers".

[lightningandsnow]

There's a municipal election going on in Toronto, and local Conservative mayoral candidate Rob Ford is using the slogan of Protecting Taxpayers. All around the city, candidates for school trustee and city councillor, be they right-wing, "centrist", or even "liberal" are putting tax cuts, fiscal responsibility, and "respect for your tax dollars" at the top of their lists.

My former boss once told me that people are angry. Angry at being taxed too much and having their tax dollars mismanaged. Granted, the actual mismanagement of city funds is a valid complaint. But where is the outrage for people like my friend Katie?

I met Katie (not her real name) in high school. We were never very close, but she attended meetings of our school's Gay-Straight Alliance, which I was the president of. We shared a similar taste in music and were both activists. She was incredibly bright, and was an aspiring actress who appeared as an extra in a couple music videos.

Around the middle of grade 11, I noticed that I wasn't seeing Katie around much anymore. I figured she had transferred to another school in the area.

About a year and a half later, I ran into Katie at a mall downtown. We began talking, and I found out that she had been homeless for about six months, and had only found housing recently. She was only sixteen years old. It came up when she was talking about needing to buy new shoes, but not having the money; six months of carrying her life around in a backpack had left holes in the soles of her shoes. She didn't go into detail about how she became homeless, and I didn't pry, but she alluded to issues with her family, and having an alright, although atypical relationship with her mother, and none with her father. I believe her father either kicked her out, or she left because he was abusive.

I think about Katie, and everyone like her, whenever I get an election pamphlet that advocates tax cuts and "fiscal responsibility". Quite frankly, I have little sympathy for wealthy people who only care about their own interests, when homeless people - people like Katie - die on the streets every year during subzero winter nights. This election has become all about "tax dollars", while people ignore Toronto's most vulnerable residents.

For Katie, there was a happy ending. She found stable housing and is working on finishing her high school diploma. She was one of the lucky ones, and it was only through publicly funded programs - the one that "taxpayers" are trying to cut, that she's where she is now. But why are people like her not considered relevant to "taxpayers"? Imagine if Katie was your friend, your granddaughter, your sister, or your niece.

"The moral test of government is how that government treats those who are in the dawn of life, the children; those who are in the twilight of life, the elderly; those who are in the shadows of life; the sick, the needy and the handicapped." - Senator Hubert H. Humphrey (D)

[hughee99]

1. I understand what your saying, but I'm not sure it addresses the issue

If taxes are high and people like Katie still aren't being helped, people should at least be worried about how their taxes are being used. IMHO, most people will support higher taxation as long as they're convinced their money is being used wisely, and people will be angry even with a lower tax rate if they still think their money is being wasted. This is even the case for a few non-libertarian repukes I've met.

[lightningandsnow]

2. I definitely see what you mean.

However, in this election, I'm not hearing so much genuine concern over how money is used, but a lot of incoherent wailing about "my tax dollars!" Case in point, there's a guy running for city council who does not think that council should address homelessness at all because he thinks it's "wasting our tax dollars". He literally has said that homelessness should only be addressed by private charity.

[hughee99]

3. I 100% agree.

No one on either side of the aisle is in favor of wasting tax dollars, but a lot of repukes are pointing to things that I don't consider to be waste at all.

[TBF]

4. Agreed, my only problem with the budget is too much warmongering -

other than that I'm fine with letting the Bush rates expire.