Vancouver Sun: Support for Public Education, but higher taxes?

This post was interesting to me. I agree if government was more fiscally responsible there could be more done with less, however, to make any real changes, there needs to be more money.... higher taxes is the way to achieve that, but not all are willing to fork over more gmoney, and especially not to a government who mismanages it.

I wish they would explore the corporate taxes further before hiking taxes for the public. I am not opposed to a tax increase if it would help with public services, however, I feel the corporations are let off easy when it comes to taxes and I really think there is something to explore there that could improve public services such as education - for all.

British Columbians indicated strong support in a recent poll for increased spending on public education, but they were sharply divided when asked if they were willing to pay more taxes to accomplish that. In the poll, commissioned by the B.C. Teachers’ Federation, 43.6 per cent of respondents said they would accept a small tax hike to improve education and hire more teachers, but 41.8 per cent said they do not want to pay more. The remainder were uncertain. Leslie Turnbull, a partner with Viewpoints Research of Winnipeg, the firm that conducted the poll, said it’s not uncommon for Canadians to indicate a preference for more government spending but also an unwillingness to cover those costs through taxation. “Most people feel that if government streamlined its spending, better managed it and focused on the key things that are important … then the public could get the services it needs,” she said in an interview. “That’s probably not realistic.” Nevertheless, BCTF president Susan Lambert said she was heartened by the results because they contradict suggestions from the Fraser Institute, the Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF) and the Liberal government that there’s no appetite for a tax lift. “What this is saying to us is that parents and the public are open to a conversation around tax increases, especially if it goes to priorities that they’ve identified … (such as) public education.”

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