Digital Direct Democracy, episode #7 __ Your post-CPD tax bill __

Let’s imagine how your after-tax disposable income might increase if you were exempt from paying carbon taxes and other tax bills for which you receive no benefit.

The Appalling 53% tax rate!

A while ago, I read a report that stated that the average Canadian wage earner remits 53% of annual take-home pays to all taxes and “revenue tool” fees charged by all levels of government. The number and amount of these forced payments are appalling on so many levels (don’t get me started!)

The Citizens’ Preferences Database (CPD) system is intended to whittle away at that 53%. The voluntary opt-out mechanism is how this can be accomplished.

In the Digital Age, there is no excuse to impose a “one-size-fits-all” blanket of rules, regulations and costs on every citizen. There is also no need to wait for an election every four years to eliminate the elected representatives who continue to dump loads of more public obligations onto a struggling population.

A case in point.

This week, federal Conservative Leader Pierre Poilivre attempted to bring down Parliament with a non-confidence vote over the increases in carbon taxes that are foist upon every consumer and business in Canada. The Liberal/NDP power cabal in Parliament voted down the non-confidence motion and prevented the hoped-for Carbon Tax Election which would surely have resulted in a Conservative Parliament.

The majority of Canadians oppose the carbon tax but, unfortunately, they must suffer another 19 months under its burdens until the next scheduled federal election arrives in October 2025.

If the CPD system was in place today, every citizen who opposes the carbon tax could opt-out of paying it immediately.

Back of the napkin calculations

If we assume 30 million Canadians pay taxes every year and total federal government revenues from carbon taxes are $22 billion, then this amounts to an additional expense of $733 per year for the average Canadian.

Assume the average Canadian earns $65,000 annually.

At a 53% rate, the average Canadian remits $34,450 for all taxes and gov’t fees.

That number would drop to $33,717 after registering on the CPD  to opt-out of paying carbon taxes and saving $733.

The effective rate of taxation drops to 51.9% from 53%.

Now, what if the average Canadian could opt out of several other CPD categories?

How many years would it take to drop the average government take to the 1961 rate of 38%, or even lower?

In incredible shrinking government footprint

With the steady erosion to tax revenues, the entire public sector in Canada would be forced to go on a diet. Would the size, cost and scope of responsibilities entrusted to government agencies by Canada’s citizenry eventually drop to 60% of current levels? 50%? 40%? Less?

Climate Change activists lobby governments to use the force of legislation to shrink our “carbon footprint”. Could we help them achience their goals by reducing the ‘government footprint’ via the long term transformative effects of the CPD system (aka Democracy 2.0)?

The unfolding of Democracy 2.0

How this paradigm will evolve is not exactly predictable, but some current facts can feed an educated guess.

We know, for example, that government waste exists and little motivation exists to reign it in so long as taxation, debt financing and ‘revenue tools’ are readily at hand.

The elimination of public sector monopolies, and the establishment of markets in which both government and non-government service providers will compete on an equal footing, will play out in ways that we can only imagine.

Between the two extremes of 100% government market actors and none at all, the public services markets will likely settle with a mix of both. However, like all free markets, that mix will depend on who does the best job of satisfying market needs on a consistent basis.

The reputation of our current government ‘actors’ is poor with no signs of getting better.

Amazon, Meta, Google, Apple and other products and services corporate giants have indisputably good repulations if you consider the revenues they earn annually from voluntary purchases by billions of paying customers.

Needless to say, the government ‘actors’ have a long way to go to earn the loyalty and respect of corporate giants like these.

Sure, many people love to hate corporate giants. Likewise, many hate big government entities too. Neither is perfect and each have their fans and critics.

Yet, many advocates are hypocrits . For example, a local City Councillor who has been a Climate Change activist for decades drove a diesel car for a long time and still doesn’t drive an EV. I have been a critic of Big Government since 1979, but it doesn’t stop me of accepting my CPP and OAS cheques in retirement.

My point is, if the Councillor and I were free to Opt-in and Opt-out of areas of government responsibility, neither would care much about what the other was doing.

As a Libertarian and ardent advocate of Freedom of Informed Choice, I care nothing about how the Councillor spends her money, time or efforts. However, I do prefer that she leave me alone and to refrain from voting for policies that enable her to impose her Climate Change phobias on me using the force of legislation.

I choose “Live and let live” government policies

The CPD is a formula for establishing mutual respect for the choices of our fellow citizens, and reshaping Canadian society to be less ‘tribal’.

“Live and let live” is a good motto to live by.

Dismantling the ‘nanny state’ one CPD choice at a time is the vision I am promoting with the Citizen Direct Democracy episodes.

Next, the SWOT analysis.