Value

For those who think I may have gotten a little too conservative in my old age (and you know who you are), it's time to put down the government-bashing hammer and all the talk of tea parties for a moment or two and take a look at this.

A new study just published by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, titled Canada's Quiet Bargain: The Benefits of Public Spending [PDF link],has sought to quantify just how much value Canadian citizens get from the taxes they pay.

Overturning received wisdom, the study concludes that the public services Canadians receive would be far more expensive if they had to pay out of pocket.

A family earning the median family income in Canada receives a public benefit that would amount to $41,000 if they had to pay for it - an amount equal to 63 percent of their total income and far higher than the total cost of the taxes the family pays.

Apparently even income earners in the $80-90,000 range receive a public benefit equal to half their income, again higher than the taxes they pay. And if we had to pay out of pocket for education, health care, infrastructure, etc., we would receive less value and have less disposable income than we enjoy today.

Of course, not everyone agrees. Just see the comments here.

I particularly enjoyed this one, from Capitlalist.

The Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives is a very left wing organization, so what do you expect? Of course taxes are a good bargain if you are some low income loser who uses a lot of services and pays zero in taxes. But if you are middle class (or higher income) and pay tax out your ass to fund everybody else how is that a bargain? Usually people who agree with these studies are people with low incomes and have a disdain for money.

So I was thinking, it's always good to know be reminded that I am a low income loser. And have a disdain for money. Because, otherwise, I just might forget.

And before someone tries arguing that these figures are skewed because Americans have higher incomes than Canadians, I offer this.

US Census results for 2006 show the median household income as $46,326. And the great Wikepedia gods tell us that in 2007, the median annual household income In the United States was $50,233.00. While the median Canadian household income in 2006 was $53, 634. Or $66,000 in a 2.6 person household according to the 2009 study.

Well you know what they say about statistics ... one of my favourites being that they can be made to prove anything - even the truth.

Still, I'm just saying. I thought it was interesting.