Reflecting on the Debt
This year, the United States will run a deficit that is larger than Canada’s entire National Debt.
Several notable journalists have written compelling attacks of the Martin legacy on the debt. Namely, his habit of presenting a “balanced budget”, then running “higher than expected” surpluses which automatically bring the debt down.
While I am no fan of Paul Martin, I am a fan of debt reduction. Journalists have suggested that Martin “come clean” or add a line item for debt reduction. Frankly, I’m in favour of the latter, and not entirely sure that a reasonable level of prudence in fiscal predictions isn’t in order. Better to “underestimate” the surplus than “overestimate” it. But the other criticism is that this is money that is unnecessarily taken from our pockets! On this point, too, I understand the logic, but I disagree with those who think this is a “bad thing”.
America’s spending habits aside, we have a serious problem! We pay 21 cents of every dollar in taxes toward interest on the debt. This is outrageous. More than 1/5th of the taxes we pay goes toward paying interest on long-gone Trudeau-era big Government spending that is no longer of any benefit (if it ever was)!
If the debt didn’t exist, imagine a 20% tax cut? Or, even if you are not a tax-cut loving Conservative like me, imagine what an extra 1/5th of the budget could do for health care or post-secondary education. You could probably wipe out tuitions for students and still have enough left over to fix health care (for another 5 years or so anyway, but not a “generation”).
We should not turn our backs on the debt! In fact, we should build debt repayment into our budget (more than just the nominal 3 billion dollar “margin of error” that inevitably turns into 8 or 9 billion dollars). We should get serious about paying it!
How do we fund this?
It’s easy, thanks to Paul Martin! Simply roll back all his unnecessary spending increases of the last 2-3 years, and you can add a line item to pay back 10 billion on the debt every year AND still have room for a tax break. Keep the margin of error and apply that to the debt, too.
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Jarrett
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