Freedom's just another word for nothing left to lose...

According to our evil lying fascist bastard friends at the Fraser Institute, we just passed Tax Freedom Day in British Columbia. Like a lot of sensible Canadians, this page regards the notion of tax "freedom" as relative to the point of condescending speciousness. It's one thing for governments to collect fewer taxes from citizens, it's quite another for governments to provide value for the tax dollars they collect from citizens. I'm not going to celebrate any tax "freedom" while the B.C. Liberals spend our money on such idiotic line items as:

-$44.5 million in bonuses for VANOC staff, despite the fact that the salaries they receive put them way ahead of any non-profit organization in British Columbia. John Furlong gets $300,000 a year, and no one really has any idea what he does because VANOC conducts their business at secret meetings surrounded by riot cops. Do you think Kim Kerr makes anywhere near that as Director of the Downtown Eastside Residents Association? Actually, Kerr would rather see $44.5 million go to social housing, which would make DERA's job a hell of a lot easier.

-Cash bonuses for ER doctors: It's bad enough that patients are shuttled through family doctors' offices as a result of fee-for-service billing that focuses on quantity over quality. It may be acceptable for people with the sniffles or tennis elbow, but people usually go to Emergency wards when something is seriously wrong. Do you want your ER physician to take his time and treat your correctly, or do you want him to take the money? Before you get too excited, just remember that you're in critical condition, not on Let's Make a Deal.

-Ignoring the Supreme Court of Canada ruling and continuing to layoff health care workers under Bill 29 is only making a bad situation worse. Many of us would have liked to see the court order the B.C. Liberal party to pay damages to over 8,000 (and counting) fired health care workers, but instead, the money will come out of the pockets of B.C. taxpayers. Kill good jobs that provide good tax revenue for the government, then have the taxpayers clean up the mess. Wow! Mean and stupid!

To summarize, the right-wing wastes of skin at the Fraser Institute can belch all they want about how much earlier British Columbians are working for themselves and not to pay their taxes. However, it's the vicious Social Darwinism they peddle though corporations and the media that keeps us from achieving the society we're paying for through those taxes.