by Richard Shillington, economist
In this election, we have parties playing policy musical chairs.
The Liberals defend the GST they once hated.
The Conservatives now recommend a return of universal support for parents. In the 1980s they declared universality a sacred trust — just before ending it.
Progressives who defended universality in the 1980s now turn their nose up at the return of the Baby Bonus.
The Liberals decide that the head tax, which they introduced should be eliminated, beating the Conservatives announcement by hours.
 | | Only those on welfare have received no tax cut or support increase in the last decade. |
The Liberals now defend the GST which they opposed originally, virtually bringing parliament to a stand-still and promised to eliminate the GST in 1993.
The Liberals now oppose any cut to the GST rate. Our Finance Minister appears unaware that consumption taxes are regressive, asserting, falsely, that their income tax cuts would do more for the poor. With the income tax cuts delivered over the last decade about half the benefits went to the 10 percent of families with incomes over $100,000. For more see the paper by Andrew Mitchell and myself for NAPO (link below).
The only group of Canadians who have received no increase in support or cut in taxes — over the last decade? Those on welfare! Living in destitution, in Ontario, on 40 percent less than the negligible income they got 10 years ago.
Richard Shillington, PhD, is a statistician who specializes in the quantitative analysis of health, social and economic policy. He appears regularly before committees of the House of Commons and the Senate and frequently provides commentaries for television, radio and newspapers on issues of taxation, human rights and social policy.
Related addresses:
URL 1: www.napo.ca/en/issues/tax percent20cuts.htm
[ News List ]
