OTTAWA—The radical tax cut and debt repayment plan announced in today’s Economic Statement does nothing to address the serious problems facing the country, the Alternative Federal Budget coalition says.
“Tax cuts will not do anything to help skyrocketing drug costs, our crumbling municipal infrastructure, nor provide clean drinking water on First Nations’ reserves. They will not create affordable child care spaces, build affordable housing, lower tuition fees, nor reduce greenhouse gases,” says Bruce Campbell, Executive Director of the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives.
Taxes and tax cuts
With its eye on the next election, the Harper government is getting its ducks in a row. It is making nice with Nova Scotia and trying to get Afghanistan out of play. But damage limitation is not a very compelling terrain for fighting an election.
They would prefer to use the Throne speech to focus our attention on pre-election goodies. And what political strategist doesn’t like tax cuts tailored for that finicky swing voter? A government that has just posted a fat surplus has got to be tempted to spread the love.
New data from Statistics Canada gives us a glimpse at the extensive income gains the richest of Canadians have been experiencing over the past two decades. Finance Minister Flaherty reveals a massive budget surplus, and promises more tax cuts. Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives research fellow and economist Hugh Mackenzie connects the dots.
A Behind the Numbers report which breaks down just who will benefit from the tax cut in the 2007 provincial budget. Key findings are that the tax cut is cumulatively expensive to the public purse (and deprives the treasury of money that could be used to virtually eliminate homelessness over the next few years), while being worth very little to each household.
Finance Minister Jim Flaherty has made pension income divisible between spouses for tax purposes and has mused about extending this option eventually to all income. This latter proposal would benefit a wealthy minority at the expense of important public programs and create a disincentive for women to engage in paid employment. There are other and better ways to give working people more time and resources to care for their children.
OTTAWA—Canada is falling behind a number of OECD nations in a wide range of social and economic areas, and a study released today by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives points to tax cuts as the culprit.
The study, by Neil Brooks and Thaddeus Hwong, compares high-tax Nordic countries and low-tax Anglo-American countries on 50 social and economic measures and finds the high-tax Nordic countries score better in 42 categories.
According to the study, tax cuts are disastrous for the well-being of a nation’s citizens. For example, the high-tax Nordic countries have: