As the numbers roll in, big government delivers more bad news.

Finance Minister Bill Morneau and the Federal government are ringing in the new year by announcing deficits to the tune of $26.6 billion for this year and another $28.1 billion next year. 

Last spring, these numbers were $19.8 billion for 2019-20 and $19.7 billion for 2020-21. In just 10 months, Ottawa is going $15 billion deeper into the hole.

As a student, I know the challenges my generation faces. From mounting student debt to housing affordability and personal struggles that come in boatloads. You would think that today’s politicians would try to guide the next generation to a better future, but that’s not what’s happening. Their piling up debt with no plan to pay it back. 

And young Canadians will pay for it with higher taxes in the future.

Generation Screwed, a student advocacy group, has launched MyTaxBurden.ca to help Canadians understand just how unfair our governments have been towards younger generations. Based calculations from the C.D. Howe Institute, Canadians can calculate how much they will pay in taxes in their lifetime and how much they’ll get in government services, depending on their year of birth. The gap between you and your parents will make your jaw drop.

Take for example, university students who just turned 18. In their lifetimes, they will have to pay an estimated $400,320 more in taxes than they value of services they receive – that’s their net tax burden. Their parents, born in the 1970s will have a net tax burden of $27,180. Does this sound fair?

Young Canadians are being shortchanged by their parents’ politicians. Tackling government debt and deficits today would shrink this intergenerational tax gap. Sign our petition on MyTaxBurden.ca and tell politicians in Ottawa to stop spending our future away.

Patrick Beacham, Regional Coordinator for Generation Screwed in Quebec

Montreal, QC