Taxes Burden Rises In Quebec

What else is new? More taxes (that is, increases in gas, health and sales taxes) for no services in return. Instead, we have to "pull together" to pay for a deficit politicians created on their own. Our wealth potential erodes (and trust me, we see it directly with the insane property taxes on our buildings) while we can be sure politicians will enhance their pensions (while pensions of average citizens stagnate or are cut) ensuring they can buy condos in Florida.

Motorists get killed with the gas tax because the government wants to enhance public transit. So if you're job requires you to drive or you're, for instance, a teacher that's moved all over the place before you're tenured (about five years), welcome to our nightmare. 

The thing is, if wages don't increase, where does the money come from to pay for the increase in taxes? Then, they wonder why net savings are negligible here. Quebec has the highest tax rates of any jurisdiction in North America - not just Canada.


What does this all mean? It means I'll be shopping in the States.

According to the Conference Board of Canada:

Among the Canadian provinces, Quebec is arguably in the most precarious fiscal situation. The provincial net debt now stands at $129 billion—equal to 43 per cent of provincial GDP. (Two decades ago, Quebec’s net debt-to-GDP ratio was only 22 per cent.) According to figures released by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, Quebec is in the fifth-worst position in terms of fiscal debt burden in the western industrialized world. Only Italy, Japan, Belgium, and Greece have higher debt-to-GDP ratios. Between 2009–10 and 2011–12 alone, debt-servicing costs will rise 29 per cent, providing a strong incentive for Quebec to curb its spending growth.

Compounding the problem of the province’s mountain of debt is the fact that, beginning in 2014, Quebec’s working-age population (consisting of those aged 15 to 64) will begin to dwindle. As the eldest members of the baby-boom generation retire, considerable pressure will be placed on younger generations to finance rising health-care and social-service costs. Between 2010 and 2030, Quebec’s working-age population is projected to decline by 3.3 per cent—a stark contrast to the projected increases of 10 per cent in the United States¹ and 12 per cent in Ontario.

In addition to the adverse demographic factors, households in Quebec already face the highest tax burden among the provinces, as measured by provincial personal income and retail sales tax remittances. In 2008, Quebecers paid over $3,700 per capita in taxes—15 per cent more than Ontarians, who face the second-highest tax burden nationally, and 56 per cent more than Albertans (who do not pay a provincial sales tax).

So. About independence...