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Where I live, my taxes go to building people free houses. I have no problem with that and I support the economic argument. Is that really a point of contention
by ryanjshaw 11y ago
Where I live, my taxes go to building people free houses. I have no problem with that and I support the economic argument. Is that really a point of contention for anybody?
Perhaps I'm too far removed from the target audience of the article because I still don't understand the granite countertops comment. Where I live there are people waiting for houses for more than 20 years after being promised. I went to help dig trenches once as part of a corporate donation. The stories you hear are heartbreaking. Granite countertops vs normal countertops, in countries with serious inequality is actually a real thing and can mean the difference between somebody waiting another year for a house, and getting one today.
The guy's comment was a perfectly valid criticism - shaving 0.1% on a budget may sound like nothing to privileged people, but in a country where 10 million people don't have homes it actually does mean something to 10 thousand people.
- rmxt 11y agoI see your argument more clearly now... I guess it's an unfortunate result of disparities in the poorest living conditions between countries. The poorest x% of people in Canada probably live better than the poorest x% of people in South Africa (the only country I can imagine that fits your stats above). If government officials were putting in granite countertops in housing developments in South Africa, I'd be up in arms too. In Canada, and on a scale as small as Medicine Hat, they can probably afford, both literally and figuratively, to put nice finishes in public/subsidized housing developments. (Especially if that money is earmarked for local purposes and can't be sent elsewhere. I guess "Collect local (taxes), spend local" isn't too bad of a motto.)