Taxpayers should be mad at the government

BY FRANCO TERRAZZANO

Ottawa is wondering why the rubes are mad.

People are hurting. But the anger comes from a deeper sense of being ripped off.

Taxes and regulations are making it hard to put food on the table. Politicians and bureaucrats are misleading us. They’re wasting our money and not being honest about how it’s spent. And they’re showering themselves with bonuses and raises no matter how bad of a job they’re doing.

The federal government is raising five taxes this year. The Canada Pension Plan tax, Employment Insurance tax, the carbon tax and alcohol taxes are going up. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is imposing a second carbon tax through fuel regulations.

The government also spent $450,000 studying and promoting a home equity tax.

Trudeau promised that “we are not going to be saddling Canadians with extra costs … the last thing Canadians need is to see a rise in taxes right now.” This isn’t the only time the government misled taxpayers.

Trudeau’s former environment minister said the government had “no intention” to raise the carbon tax after 2022. The carbon tax is now increasing to 37 cents per litre of gas by 2030.

The Trudeau government claims “families are going to be better off” with the carbon tax and rebates. Politicians continue making this claim even though the Parliamentary Budget Officer shows it’s incorrect. The average family will be out hundreds of dollars this year even after the rebates.

If politicians were serious about fighting misinformation, they would stop misleading taxpayers.

Politicians are raising taxes to paper over the wasteful spending. The federal government spent $8,800 on a sex toy art exhibit in Germany. It spent

$6,000 per night on a single hotel room. It spent $1 million on the governor general’s week-long trip to the Middle East that included a bill for almost $100,000 for airplane food.

Trudeau won’t say who stayed in the $6,000 hotel room.

Gov.-Gen. Mary Simon said the “meals are not very extravagant on these trips” and “they’re pretty much like airline meals.” The receipts later revealed they enjoyed beef Wellington, beef carpaccio, stuffed pork tenderloin, among other fancy feasts.

Big business is also on the take. The government announced $295 million for the Ford Motor Company, $12 million for Loblaw, $420 million for Algoma Steel and $372 million for Bombardier.