You're right, it's a question of ideology, and a certain ideology has been successful over the last 30 years in convincing people that taxation is a bad thing. It is as if people and corporations have the idea that their tax money is going into a black hole.
You mentioned the CCPA earlier. Hugh Mackenzie at their national office did a report that came out earlier this year. It shows what the actual value is that Canadians get for their taxation. I think that's the key. We have to start educating people about the value of taxation. The returns on taxation are incredible. The average middle class family realizes between $40,000 to $60,000 worth of benefits every year from taxation. We need to make that connection. We need to connect the dots and show people the value they're getting out of taxation. Hugh Mackenzie did exactly that. It's astounding: every Canadian receives between $40,000 and $60,000 worth of services by paying taxes. That's more than some families are bringing in to start with.
When you look at before-tax incomes across Canada, you see that most of the money is going to the top decile, and it's even worse in Manitoba. But when you look at after-tax incomes, it is clear that in Manitoba we do better at redistributing our income. That's because we have a slightly better way of taxing the higher-income people and then redistributing it. So although we look worse before taxes, we look better after taxes, because our taxation system is a little more progressive.
What happens when low-income people are getting more money needs to be explained to people. We are spending less on health care; we're spending less on crime prevention; we're spending less on jails; we're spending less on all kinds of things. But the cost-benefit is that we actually get more value from taxation than if we don't tax people. That argument has to be made. It's a tough argument to make, though. For whatever reason, the other ideology has convinced people that taxation is bad. It's just a knee-jerk reaction. We need to turn that argument around. Look at what's happening in the United States. We don't want it happening in Canada. It's a question of education. I don't envy politicians having to take it on. I hope some of you will be brave enough to broach the issue. It's unpleasant, but it has to be done.