Taxes, taxes, taxes. Yes, I said taxes.

• Author: Cirtwill, Charles
• Position: Think Tank

No one cares about taxes. Given the Trumpian headlines and the carbon tax wars this may come as a surprise to you, but it is true. What people do care about is how much things cost. If the total cost is cheap, and taxes make up 90 per cent of that price, no one cares. If something is expensive, or more expensive than it was yesterday, and taxes make up one per cent of the total cost, get out the torches and pitchforks.

The carbon tax in B.C., and the government that put it in place, survived, at least in part, because the people of B.C. didn't see a price impact on their avocado toast or Molson Canadian large enough to make them angry.

Yet, in Ontario, anger over rising electricity prices driven by cap and trade and green energy initiatives contributed to the recent defeat of the Liberal government.

This is why Northern Policy Institute is inviting you and other Northern leaders to join us in North Bay on Sept. 26 and 27 to talk about "taxing for growth."

What government taxes and how it taxes those things matters, as does how and what government buys with the tax dollars they collect from you. What also matters is who is being taxed and their ability to pay. With apologies to the economists among you, let's consider a few examples.

If bananas get to be too pricey, I buy apples, or grapes, or oranges. These choices are impacted by lots of things. Things like "elasticity of demand" and "product substitution effects." What it comes down to, though, is that I will buy what I need to buy (diapers for my five-month-old being an example) until the price gets so high I can't afford not to seek out alternatives (the price will have to get VERY high before we start talking about linen diapers, let me tell you).

So government may have more or less room to tax certain things depending on what you, I, and everyone else are prepared to pay for them.

In addition, who is buying certain things may widen, or narrow, a government's ability to collect taxes.

The price at which I switch from Big Macs to bargain burgers, for example, will be different from the point at which Mr. Trump does. He has way more money (borrowed or otherwise) than I do. So if something (luxury cars, let's say) are being...