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By A Smith (anonymous) | Posted January 14, 2011 at 18:21:40
goin'downtown >> I have no issue with using taxes to provide/support cultural/recreational benefits for the community, but, yeah, of course - within reason.
What would you rather have for Hamilton, an economy that creates jobs that produce things people are willing to pay above cost for, or an economy that produces things that people only want if they're free, or heavily subsidized?
If you want the former, then we have to stop giving tax dollars over to government so they keep providing free stuff. We can't have both at the same time. Either the private sector will make most of the spending decisions and we will produce based on what makes profits. Or, we will put people to work making stuff that needs to be subsidized because nobody is willing to pay full price.
In Canada around 40% of every dollar is spent by governments. Because downtown Hamilton has far less private businesses and more government spending than your average Canadian city, it's quite likely that the downtown is closer to 60-70% public spending and 30-40% private.
If we want a dynamic and innovative downtown, how can we do that when likely only 30-40% of all income is based on producing things that people value?
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