MR. HARPER’S REAL RECORD ON TAXES To hear him tell it, Stephen Harper is a brilliant tax-cutter. He says so incessantly. But the facts reveal a different story. His first fiscal decision after taking office in 2006 was to increase personal income taxes. Later that fall, he imposed another new Conservative tax on Income Trusts which obliterated $25-billion from the savings accounts of two million ordinary Canadians. More recently, Mr. Harper has hiked the overall federal tax burden in each of his last four budgets – taxing everything from tricycles and cosmetic wigs for cancer patients to local credit unions, small business owners and even job creation. Conservative claims about lower taxes for families need careful scrutiny. You often hear them say they are saving the “average” or “typical” family more than $3200 every year. You will probably hear that reference again in their new budget later today. But it all depends on what type of family you are talking about. You can construct an illustration which would fit the Conservative model -- with two parents, two children, a six-figure income and consumer spending of more than $50,000 every year (including over a thousand dollars for art lessons). But for most families -- in fact, for 70-percent of Canadian families -- this is simply not their reality. The vast majority of middle-class Canadians haven’t seen a significant improvement in their real incomes for the better part of 30 years. But their living costs have gone up and debt-loads have ballooned. For every dollar of disposable income, Canadians are now carrying $1.64 in household debt. Many are concerned about affording post-secondary education for their kids, or not having a pension from their place of employment, or finding decent childcare, or long-term care for an elderly parent. Nearly three-quarters of Canadians worry that their children will not do as well economically as they have done. And then there’s Mr. Harper’s new federal debt burden to take into account. He has run seven consecutive deficits so far (not including today’s budget), and has added more than $165-billion to Canada’s overall debt. That works out to $5,000 in new Conservative debt for every man, woman and child in this country, or $20,000 for every family of four. So all of Mr. Harper’s tax cuts are paid for with borrowed money. To help with jobs, growth and prosperity, today’s budget should roll-back the increases in job-killing EI payroll taxes which Mr. Harper has hiked repeatedly to an excessive level. It would also help if he cancelled the new tariff-taxes he imposed last year which add about $333-million annually to our living costs.
Posted on: Tue, 11 Feb 2014 13:44:17 +0000
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