Well, two things should be blatantly obvious to even the most dyed in the wool socialist now.
- Civil Servants don’t pay taxes,
- A country, any country is damned foolish to tie their currency and economy to another finance department.
Well, two things should be blatantly obvious to even the most dyed in the wool socialist now.
I agree, Colin from Mission. I don’t have a problem with civil servants, I have a problem with the tax system. There will always be a need for some sort of civil service, and I don’t begrudge them a fair wage. When it’s crystal clear that someone’s working for a government, I see no need to deduct taxes from their paycheque. When they have legitimate exemptions, let them have extra credits. If it’s fair for hutterites, it’s fair for civil servants.(Hutterites pay no personal income tax, but claim the maximum personal exemption, to qualify for credits)
Hello! McGreece!
“The lesson here is that not every civil servent job is the same, some are very much involved with the public and others are not.”
Actually Colin, you are WRONG. ALL civil servant jobs ARE the same i.e they do NOTHING productive!!
The only person in an economy who is offering original value-added worth is the individual who constructs something from raw materials.
This is too simplistic. It is only with the help of secondary and tertiary industries/services that the primary producer can do what he does as efficiently as he does.
Even the most ideological libertarian knows that government has a purpose. The argument is about its size and scope.
having worked in and out of government I cannot agree with all the comments. many civil servants work very hard and smart. often their hard work results in nothing; they read reports other civil servants write. many civil servants are at the front line; firefighters, police, soliders who are paid for “eventualities”, ie they earn ALL of several years pay in one day. civil servants at district/ regional /provincial /national headquarters are another breed. most of what they do, no matter how well or how hard they do it (and most do it neither well nor hard)is of no value to society at all.
our biggist issue is government involvement in areas that are not public goods; ie services where you cannot deny the benefits to those who do not pay. example: police. if police charged the victim for each investigation, I will be safer for having other people pay the police and the police lock up the criminals even though I did not pay. education was considered a public good, ie even childless people benefit from a body politic with common education. with the advent of religious schoold and alternative schools the commonality of the education is reduced and the public good arguement erodes quickly.
some non-public goods are done cheaper by government eg city roads. a toll could be charged each time you leave your driveway and charged for each km you travel. the billing and collection cost would be very high. it is cheaper to not toll the road and levy a tax on gasoline. limited access highways are different as anyone who has driven a US state turnpike will attest.
Not sure it’s the Greeks who are the crooks.
“In early November — three months before Athens became the epicenter of global financial anxiety — a team from Goldman Sachs arrived in the ancient city with a very modern proposition for a government struggling to pay its bills, according to two people who were briefed on the meeting.
The bankers, led by Goldman’s president, Gary D. Cohn, held out a financing instrument that would have pushed debt from Greece’s health care system far into the future, much as when strapped homeowners take out second mortgages to pay off their credit cards. ”
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/14/business/global/14debt.html
Ha, Friday morning at 7:08 am and Jim over at CNBC morning show is calling for (government) regulation to protect “the little guy.” Yes sir Mr Wesley Mouch. Regards, J. Galt.
Greece: the ultimate destination of the nanny state.
I don’t know about Greece and it may surprise some but this civil servant pays plenty of taxes. Am I not Canadian? I also vote conservative. You would do well to make no assumptions. No one is doing my job in the private sector, at the moment. The private sector is content, nay happy, to let me to do it. My organization, for the most part, pays its own way. Like anyone else, I needed and applied for a job. I won’t apologize for doing it. Not all of us work in ivory towers. I’ll retire at 60 after 36 years with 33.5 pensionable years. I don’t see my pension as gold plated. Like most, I hope instead that it will be adequate. If you don’t like it, I don’t give a fig.
So far in the comments I picked up “New World Order” , “Goldman Sachs” ,”IMF” and “Buy Gold and firearms”…You guys are on to something…Some are still hanging their hats on political affiliations…Forget Left or Right people…It’s goes much deeper than that now. Although don’t get me wrong, the Right mindset is still the winning side except we can virtually no longuer trust ANY government of any political stripe on the planet anymore. No matter who we put in charge, they are not really the boss voicing the peoples wishes anymore for example with what’s happening in the US should be obvious to anyone half awake.
Here in Canada, do you find it odd that Harper is still pushing on the green movement/cap & trade after the blow up that is Climategate where the majority of citizens of the free world now seems aware of this mega scam? I find it even more odd knowing full well Stephen Harper was always (Righfully so) a big skeptic from the beginning.
Also remember Dion who IMO, conducted an exercise to test the grounds for major energy taxes on North American soil aka to save the planet. Now follow the arrows: Dion—>Chretien—>Maurice Strong—->Rockerfeller clan—->U.N/I.M.F
For mega enlightment visit prisonplanet or infowars
Google, find, watch, make DVD copies, Email attachments of these 2 documentaries:
“Fall of the Republic”
“Police State 4”
Use the greatest weapon we STILL have at our disposal: The Internet.
SPREAD THE WORD: The New World Order must be stopped.
There seems to be a lot of misconception about the ‘fat cat’ civil servants. I work for Transport Canada, so let me give everyone an insight into the pension and benefits. Last year I paid $4008 into the Super Annuation Plan (SAP) and also $2118 into CPP. Together that is over 9% of my gross pay. Keep in mind that I have been paying this for 21 years with 15 more to go.
I can retire at 60 with 70% pension since I will have 35years in, the general rule is 2% per year of service. Any CPP benefits will most likely be ‘clawed back’ as my SAP benefits will be high so my CPP contributions are a net contribution. The problem with the SAP is that it is just a bookkeeping exercise. That $4008 I paid last year was not invested anywhere, the Feds spent it somewhere else. My pension will come from taxing the workers in 2024 onwards. This decision to not actually invest the SAP contributions was made in the Trudeau era, note that CPP and Unemployment Insurance were treated the same way – spend the contributions to buy votes now and let the future taxpayers foot the bill.
Would I be happier to take that $4008 and actually invest it? Sure! The problem is that I can not opt out of SAP.
Regarding salary in the civil service, you will remember that the government legislated our last contract as 2.3%,1.5%,1.5% and 1.5% for 2007 to 2011, all those increases are less than inflation was and is projected to be. The Lieberals legislated us back to work before too, but railed against the Tories doing it a few years later.
Do not confuse the Canadian civil servants benefits with those in other countries. Yes, I agree that there is too much government. I personally would like to see it shrunk to pre 1968 levels, with pre 1968 tax rates.
The central fault of socialism and communism is this – For the government to provide everything for everyone it has to take everything from everyone.
Fred, that’s also the definition of insanity.
Fred, unfortuantely some people will never learn from life’s lessons, no matter how often – or how painfully – those lessons are repeated.
Since when do public servants not pay taxes? What kind of baloney is this?