Are Tax Hikes or Service Cuts the Only Option?

There's a rather depressing tendency for policy conversations to resort to false black and white options. Tax hikes or service cuts is one of those false dichotomies - and buying into it makes it easy for policy makers to justify their actions: we had no choice. It is also useful to divide people - after all, when there are only two choices, there is no bridge between them. Either you're for service cuts or you're for tax hikes.  

However, in reality there's a whole range of grey that should be considered.  What if the tax rate remained the same, but the economy grew? What if services were more efficiently delivered? What if the administrative burden of collecting the taxes was reduced? What if we quit providing services that fail to result in meaningful improvements and redirected resources into services that are more effective?

Often, what is needed is a more creative approach to policy making, government services and the use of public resources. Often what is needed is more innovation and more options to do what needs to be done in better ways. Often what is needed is for both heads and hearts to be used to approach problems. Data and information should be considered a valuable resource that can be used to make much better decisions.

Painting the world as black and white does a massive disservices to everyone. There many local cases in point: Richardson St., Clover Point Park, and Beacon Hill Park road closures all come to mind. Note, this is not to say that the way these amenities were left no room for improvement - rather it is to say that by painting the problems as black and white, by creating winners and losers, our city has lost out and has become more divided with many residents feeling alienated and betrayed in service to lobby groups.