The economists at CIBC Capital Markets have joined the conversation about inflation fighting with a new angle – in their view, there’s another tool governments could be using to assist in the battle.
That tool is lower spending. And it couldn’t be timelier.
As we watch the debate get started on the spending gap in the province’s largest city, the insights offered by the CIBC team might give the civic administration some added courage.
Rather than simply try to cut back on the size of the tax increases they’ll need next year, maybe they should be asking what it would it take to actually produce a reduction in expenditures that is significant enough to lower taxes.
Such a move would fit with this particular council’s penchant for wanting to solve big-picture problems, like climate change, with local action.
Now that COVID is behind us, we don’t need government to stimulate the economy In fact, we need the exact opposite with a little less public sector spending to help inflation-weary citizens already struggling to pay their bills.
