Today is federal election day in Canada.
With all the wild mood swings in the economy in the last few weeks, the geopolitical instability of the world today, and serious environmental issues to deal with (water/energy/climate), it seems we live in interesting times indeed.
Our election campaign has been largely focused on two things; environment and the economy. The environment is a big challenge, from dwindling potable water supplies to sustainable energy and yes, even climate change. But concern for the polar bears seems to dried up when mutual funds drop 20% in a day.
During WW2 Canada decided to work together and make sacrifices to defeat a global villan. We pooled our resources and decided the public good was more important than the private gain. Today we are living in an opposite state. For example, the private gain of copyright holders far exceeds the value of the common good of free culture. Our drive towards permission culture shows me that we are not in any way whatsoever ready to deal with many of the huge challenges in front of us.
I’m still making my decision on who to vote for. I bet many Canadians don’t really know until they make that X at the polling station. I think the Minority Conservatives are mostly pragmatic and cautious in their policy, working strategically to make as many people happy with them as possible. But I don’t have any idea what a Majority Conservative parliament would be like.
Taxes are of course a hot topic in every election, and I’m sure most Canadians don’t think of taxes the way I do. I tend to agree with Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes when he said:
I like paying taxes. With them I buy civilization.
But of course the devil is in the details. What kind of taxes, where, and how much? These are not easy to answer. From my economics training I would agree with the Liberals that we should tax what we don’t want, and reduce taxes on what we want and need. But I don’t know if a carbon tax is the right way to do that.
When the economy starts to contract, I start thinking harder of ways I can increase my residual income. I am always looking for new sources of reoccurring income to diversify my earning potential and flatten-out those financial ups and downs of life. Why is it that we only talk about reducing taxes instead of increasing income?
