Irrespective of which party wins the Federal election next week, Canadians are likely to get some tax cuts. All the main parties (including the NDP!) are promising to cut our onerous tax burden. KPMG Canada has a nice summary of the parties’ tax policies available here.
I am still surprised that the Liberals have a much better plan to cut (income) taxes than the Tories (though the Tory promise to cut the GST is politically popular). It is harder still to believe how left leaning the Tory platform is (I would have guessed that a promise like, “introduce a non-refundable 16% federal tax credit for the cost of public transit”, would be in a NDP platform). In the last election, the Conservative party had a much better fiscal plan:
- Phase out the 22% tax bracket on taxable income between $35K-$70K, saving a taxpayer earning $50K about $1,000 every year.
- Eliminate the annual surplus in the Employment Insurance program by reducing premiums.
- Introduce a new Registered Lifetime Savings Plan, to which Canadians can contribute up to $5,000 per year. Contributions are not tax deductible, but withdrawals are tax-free.
It is a shame that there is no radical plan to improve our anaemic productivity growth in the Conservative platform.
Attention Bloggers: I will be hosting the Carnival of Debt Reduction on Monday, January 23rd and the Festival of Frugality on Tuesday, January 24th. Deadlines are 6 p.m. EST on the previous. Please send in your submissions to ccapitalist-at-yahoo-dot-ca.
