Promises & Politicians

You know, when we were in the throes of the last municipal election, Larry just kept saying, over and over again, that "zero means zero". The zero, of course, was his promised tax increase -- that's right! he kept telling us, for a limited time only, you too can have no increased tax! Meanwhile, the other candidates for mayor kept pointing out that city services were crumbling, and that the city was pretty much tapped out... and that a small tax increase would likely be required.

To the surprise of absolutely no one, Larry's promises won out.

And to the surprise of... well, probably the surprise of his supporters, but certainly not to my surprise, our taxes will be going up.

I must admit, I love how it's a "levy" rather than an "increase". Are we supposed to be fooled?

I'm not, by any stretch of the imagination, a fiscal conservative. I don't think taxes are inherently evil. I'm willing to pay for the many fine services we enjoy in this city, province, and country. So I was never the audience for the "zero means zero" line. But I'm still surprised that people seemed to believe it. People are so convinced that the public service -- municipal, provincial, and federal -- is full of waste that they're willing to believe anyone who says the public sector just needs to be run "more like a business", and that "belt-tightening" will solve all our fiscal woes.

Do you suppose the people of Ottawa will extrapolate from this experience, and maybe be a little less credulous when the next tax-cuttin' politician comes around?

I think not, somehow.