TERRAZZANO: Canadians say federal government taxes and spends too much

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Canadians know they pay too much tax because Prime Minister Justin Trudeau wastes too much money.

The majority of Canadians say the government spends too much money, takes too much money from our paycheques and wastes money on the wrong priorities. That’s according to a new Ipsos poll commissioned by the Montreal Economic Institute.

The poll shows 72% of Canadians think income taxes are too high.

Forty-eight per cent of Canadians oppose the carbon tax, while only 39% support it. Opposition to the carbon tax has increased since last year, while support has declined.

Questions for the Liberals:

If opposition to the carbon tax is growing when it costs 17 cents per litre of gas, do you think Canadians will suddenly start loving it after you increase it again next year? How do you think Canadians will react when the carbon tax reaches 37 cents per litre of gas by 2030?

The poll also shows nearly three-quarters of Canadians believe “increasing capital gains taxes will affect middle-class Canadians, not just the ultra-wealthy.”

Canadians are right to feel tapped out. This year alone, Trudeau hiked payroll taxes, the carbon tax, alcohol taxes, capital gains taxes and is imposing a streaming tax and a digital services tax.

Canadians are worried that high taxes make life more expensive.

The poll shows three-quarters of Canadians believe higher business taxes mean higher prices at the till and taxes on housing construction make homes less affordable.

Here’s the kicker: 77% of Canadians believe their taxes are too high for the services they receive.

The poll isn’t much better for Trudeau’s spending.

“Almost two-thirds (63%) think the federal government’s spending is too high, a significant increase since 2023,” according to the poll.

Despite promising to find $15 billion in savings in Budget 2023, Trudeau increased spending by more than $30 billion in Budget 2024.

Last year, the federal payroll hit $67 billion – a record high and a 68% increase since 2016.

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Trudeau added 108,000 federal bureaucrats since becoming prime minister and rubberstamped more than $1 billion in bonuses. He also dished out more than one million pay raises in the last four years alone.

The Trudeau government handed out $11 billion in corporate subsidies in 2022. That’s more than double what the government spent on corporate subsidies in 2015 – even after accounting for inflation.

The poll also shows 70% of Canadians believe the government doesn’t correctly prioritize what it spends our tax dollars on.

Turns out Canadians don’t think the feds should spend more money on debt interest charges than they send to the provinces in health transfers.

Maybe Canadians would rather the feds hire hundreds of extra police officers to go after online crime, rather than hundreds of online censorship bureaucrats.

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Perhaps Canadians don’t think Trudeau or Governor General Mary Simons should bill taxpayers tens of thousands on airplane food while Canadians line up at foodbanks.

The big problem for the government is that this isn’t the first poll to show Canadians are sick and tired of its overspending and taxing.

A recent Leger poll commissioned by the Canadian Taxpayers Federation shows Canadians – by a margin of more than two-to-one – prefer spending cuts, instead of capital gains tax hikes, to rein in the deficit

Canadians know the federal government takes too much and spends too much – and we’re sick of it.

The feds should take these polls as a wake-up call, put down the credit card and pick up some scissors.

– Franco Terrazzano is the Federal Director of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation