If Rob Ford has enjoyed any success, it's framing the idea that he represents "taxpayers," a nondescript group of people of work hard for their money and don't want their share of taxes paid going to the benefit of those who pay nothing into the system. In the U.S., this has been digested down to the phrase, "Makers and Takers," but Ford Nation and associated constituencies do it better by distilling it down to one word, "Taxpayer."
This vision narrows the complexities of governing on any level to utterly simplistic terms: taxes are fees for service, and we should pay the absolute minimum to get the services we want and just the services we want. That means garbage collection, hydro and water services, police, emergency responders, and clean and easy to navigate roads. Public transit, the arts, cultural events, environmental initiatives, and sustainable planning are luxuries, investments desired by the leftie elites who want to use the blood, sweat and tears of the "Taxpayer" as seed money.
Here's the thing, we're all "Taxpayers." You may not own a house, but you probably pay to use public transit, and city facilities. You probably also pay into CPP, EI and income tax. So are we not all "Taxpayers?" To push the metaphor, are we not all investors in the business enterprise called the places where we live. And as with all businesses there are big investors and there are small investors. Some departments make more money, and other departments need more money. There's a give and take, but the critical difference is that in business, you're in business to make money for investors. The city you live in though is in the business of making everyone's life better. And emphasize that word everyone.
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