Rethinking Lifestyle

We pay Federal taxes, Provincial taxes, Municipal taxes, PST, GST, gas tax, alcohol tax and more. In Manitoba, on average, almost 50% of our income goes on taxes yet the politicians always want more. In fact if the Federal and Provincial governments did not run a deficit and borrow money to make up the shortfall, our taxes would be considerably higher. Of course this borrowed money will have to be repaid sooner or later and at that time taxes will have to go up significantly or government services will have to decline sharply. With more and more high paying manufacturing jobs going to machines, to China or elsewhere, more and more private sector jobs are coming in the minimum wage category. This means less tax income in general for the various levels of government.

In spite of the huge taxes we have to pay, many worthwhile projects are underfunded, but fortunately there are many fund-raising events for this or that good cause – Run for Mom, Terry Fox, walkathons, swimathons, golf tournaments etc etc. When people would ask my father if he would sponsor them to swim 100 lengths of the swimming pool (for example) for some good cause, he would emphatically say ‘no’. But he would offer to donate to the charitable cause if the person would cut the grass of the old lady who lived down the road. Of course no one ever agreed to his offer.

There are so many things that need doing in our community that are not being attended to through our Provincial or Municipal offices where many hands would make light work of a big job. The one thing that comes to mind is all the garbage in the ditches along all the roads. Why people seem to be able to hold a cup of coffee or can of pop when it is full, but as soon as it is empty it becomes too hot to handle and they throw it out the window, is a mystery.

Although usually for a good cause, a lot of energy is expended in all these runs without any tangible results – except perhaps a few blisters and aching muscles. In spring, Steinbach has a Pick-Up day where good citizens go around the city picking up all the flotsam that has been buried under the snow during winter, so we know people are willing to pick up rufuse from their surroundings.

This is the crux of this article: I would like to challenge those people who organize these charity events to have a useful purpose in mind when they plan their event. How about picking up all the garbage on Highway #12 between Steinbach and the TransCanada for example, or between Steinbach and La Broquerie? And the parallel gravel roads in between. I for one would be more than willing to sponsor someone involved in this sort of event and in the spirit of our Rethinking Lifestyles column such an event would be highly appropriate.

No one wants to pay more taxes, yet with a little planning and many willing hands these unpleasant jobs could be done with enthusiasm as part of a run-for-mom type fund-raising event. It’s like ‘crowd sourcing’.