Government Spending, the Crowsnest Pass can we (Should we) afford more taxes?

All around us we read day after day, bad news about the International, National, and local economies. Now is a time that governments at all levels need to be responsible, to throw taxpayers money at large companies, does that make sense?
If its to save a key business sector that drives the economy, that is a fundamentally sound business that just needs to hang on, to retool its operations, to develop new product lines, until we start to come out of the recession, maybe that makes sense. But to shore up companies that have made poor business decisions, that are not prepared to change, I don't believe that makes sense, you just delay the date of failure.

Before these companies get a single penny of taxpayers money they should be forced to show how they are going to whether this recession. And most importantly how they are going to pay the taxpayer back.

Talking about governments being responsible, look at the city of Calgary at a time of $56 a barrel oil they are increasing their municipal taxes 25% over the next three years. I have read the outrage in the Calgary papers, where else but government can you increase spending during difficult economic times.

Last year in the Crowsnest Pass we raised taxes 12% for one year.

I hope that when we start the budget process in the Crowsnest Pass we recognize that a quarter of our taxpayers are retired and another quarter are within 10-15 years of retirement. How can government at any level expect the taxpayers to pay more tax increases than the rate of inflation. For retirees the Canada Pension Plan tells you that you have to live with a 2-3% increase per year, for anybody that is living of investments in mutual funds how much additional income will they be receiving in the coming years. Why should government not live with a 2-3% increase of taxation? Once you have shown that you have done everything to be has lean as possible.

Its critical that governments at all levels act responsibly in these difficult times and not add to the taxpayers burden by increasing their spending/taxation to outrageous levels.