Ch. 4 Conservatives Promising to Pay National Debt

http://www.cbc.ca/cp/business/061123/b112357A.html

This article came from the CBC website and it had a lot of interesting information about the national debt. It also, talked about government taxes and how we could use this debt to our benefit. The plan is to pay off the net debt in 15 years and the savings from the interest would be used as tax cuts. Finance Minister Jim Flaherty, said, “He would cut total federal debt to 25%of GDP by 2021.” This is an eye catching number which people like. However, the plan was criticized by Liberals and NDP because they say the net debt is calculated differently and is a lot smaller then the federal debt. The Conservatives also, said the government surplus will increase and the money will be used to make Canada's debt smaller. They said that the tax cut will make people work harder which will benefit Canada’s economy as a whole. This will mean that Canada will have better businesses, more people competing for jobs, and more rich people. With better businesses in place, this will mean that there are more skilled workers staying a living in Canada. On the other hand, the NDP had a problem with the Conservatives plan because they say they are neglecting the daily lives of Canadians by focusing on the national debt. Flaherty from the Conservatives said that they could rebuild national infrastructures like highways, bridges, and border crossings. Also, he promised that there will be more money going towards colleges and universities.
The net debt is calculated by taking Canada's debt and subtracting Canada's assets from it, the net total will be the net debt. Conservatives are planning to reduce the net debt, which will lower the interest payments, and as a result lower taxes. Net debt occurs when the government borrows money from people in and outside of the country. I believe this is the governments fault because they are borrowing money from us and because of this they should pay off the debts with their own money. I believe it is wrong to do this because most people don’t even know about the consequences when they loan the government money. We do not know who the tax cuts will benefit. It could be the rich or the poor. Lowering tax percentages in a progressive tax system for low income families will not cost the government a lot of money, which means many businesses and high-income families may receive the benefits of the tax cuts. I believe this plan will keep proceeding until the economy starts slumping which will increase the net debt or it will increase tax revenues. This concept connects to the chapter because it talks about taxes and how some people benefit from it while others don’t.
This article is very intriguing to me because I would like to know if I will be getting these tax cuts when I start working. People who are in the work forest now may rather have lower taxes to benefit them, but I would prefer higher taxes as long as the government reduces the debt, which in my opinion will benefit us in the future. I predict that because of factors such as the American and other economies in the world slumping, this will eventually result in slower reductions of the national debt.