The Mark 2010

If all taxes are bad, surely getting rid of them would make the country a much better place.

The debate in Congress over taxes ultimately comes down to this: Who knows best how to use your money – the politicians in Washington or you? I believe the money we spend in Washington is your money, not the government's money. I trust you to make the best decisions about what to do with your hard-earned dollars, because when you do, your family is better off, our economy grows, and prosperity and opportunity spread throughout our great land.

    - President Bush, Radio Address, April 1, 2006

You know, there’s two schools in economics on this. One is that there are some good taxes and the other is that no taxes are good taxes. I’m in the latter category. I don’t believe that any taxes are good taxes.

    -Conservative Leader Stephen Harper, July 2009, G8 address in Italy 

There's a great debate going on about who spends money better: you or the government.

A world without taxes sounds pretty good. Your gross pay and your net pay would be the same. You would have more money to spend on the things you wanted.

And then, in 2008, only a couple of short years ago – just before the crash and the great recession – the stars aligned and the president of the United States and the prime minister of Canada had the same ideas about all those taxes that keep us down. They were very clear: they didn't like them.

Yes, a world without taxes. What would that look like? Well, it just takes a little imagination.

Sitting on the sofa, you hear a siren and get up to see what all the commotion is about. You walk outside. Your neighbour's house is on fire. Since you can spend your money better, grab your garden hose.

Fire blazing out of control? You can put it out better than any overpaid firefighter. How long can it burn anyway?

Too bad that the neighbour's kids don’t have a place to live anymore. But we shouldn't have to pay for child welfare authorities who take in kids. What the hell, invite them over for a few days until they get settled away with relatives.

And what about those sidewalks and roads. We can mix the cement and roll the asphalt better than they can. Look at all the cracks, it’s not like they fix them anyway.

Now what's that sound you hear? Someone is breaking into your neighbour's home after the fire. But why call the police? Just go to the closet and dust off your old trusty peacemaker. Fire a load of buckshot into their sorry behinds. The police arrive late anyway. And besides, we just need a few local people to take these matters into their own hands.

What about the schools? They’re filled with overpaid teachers who are no better than a television screen. And obviously the person on television knows what their talking about or they wouldn't have their own show. The teachers teach who knows what and they get paid for it. We can do it better ourselves.

Sure, we need social services! But why can't charities pay for them. Why does it always have to be the government?

Pensions? Why can't people start saving for their old age? It's just another tax.

Child care? What happened to families taking responsibility for the kids they chose to have?

And those gangs of juvenile delinquents? Throw them all in privatized jails. Make them work for a living on the inside. Maybe it will rub off when they finally get out.

Health care? Maybe it's about time people paid for their own doctors and operations they wouldn't need if they just took better care of themselves.

And why should I pay for someone else's transportation or to pick up their garbage?

Yes, a whole lot of things would be better if we didn’t have to pay taxes.

In fact, there already are a few countries where people pay very few taxes and government is very small. Haiti, Cambodia, Bangladesh and Afghanistan lead that list. They have it figured out. What are we waiting for?

Our leaders have seen the light. What's wrong with the rest of us?