As we reported here the Conservatives intend to tax the lowest earners in Canada to pay for their tax cuts for the rich and their 1% GST cut. Harper attempted to clarify what his plan is for low and middle income Canadians. CBC reported:
"Our plan will mean substantially lower taxes for Canadians. It's a combination of a GST cut, of selected personal tax cuts and some cuts for a range of business.
Harper did add one small tax detail on Saturday, pledging to remove the capital gains tax on charitable stock donations to encourage Canadians, especially the wealthy, to be more generous.
Andthose 'selected personal tax cuts' do not apply to the lowest income earners. The Harper then says that even though the Conservatives intend on abolishing the Liberal Tax cut which comes into effect this year thats ok cause well the Liberals weren't serious about it anyways.
"The problem with general tax reductions, as the Liberals have shown in the past, is they're always offset by other measures," Harper said. "That's why nobody's going to notice this particular tax reduction."
Huh? Talk about the ultimate in cynical statements. So the Conservatives will turn back the Liberal Tax cuts cause they are Liberal Tax cuts. Not because they will be offset by user fees or other increases. This does not make any sense and this Harper guy says he is an economist.
The Liberal government's plan, announced before the campaign began, would increase the basic personal exemption by $500 and trim the tax rate at the bottom income bracket to 15 per cent from 16 per cent.Now thats a real 1% cut for working Canadians, not like the phoney 1% cut of nothing that the Harper promises he will do with the GST a tax his party introduced in the first place.
Liberal Leader Paul Martin, who was campaigning in Montreal on Saturday, said the Tories would actually have to increase income taxes to pay for the GST cut."They intend to go to those Canadians who need that money most and they intend to increase their taxes," Martin said.Yep I have to agree with Paul on this one. And so can any rational Canadian. Which will immediately leave out all the partisan Conservatives and Blogging Tories as they try and spin this Tax Increase (which even Andrew Coyne recognizes it to be).
It's politically dishonest and sleazy. The Conservatives now say they will not honour the Liberal tax cuts after saying they would before the election.
"We will be doing our tax plan, not the Liberal tax plan.We can’t do both."
And like 100 monkeys in a room with a calculator the brain trust for the Tory's can't estimate what their tax breaks to the rich will really cost.
Members of Harper's team said they had costed their plan, estimating Tory tax cuts would total $32 billion. Later Saturday, on the campaign plane, Stephen Harper told reporters that the Conservative tax cuts would actually total about $49 billion.And who will pay for this? Canadians who are lower and middle income earners. Cause thats whose going to pay for the Harper Tax Cut for the Rich regardless of its cost.
Harper spoke to reporters as he visited a car dealership in this southwestern Ontario community to showcase how the cut in the GST would give families a visible tax cut. Posing beside a minivan, he said the party’s promised GST cut would save buyers of such vehicles between $400 and $500.
Yep that Van cost $49,999 not exactly the average family vehicle for the average family that earns less than that annually. Who can afford this why those who earn $100,000 a year of course.
And if I have to hear one more cretin from the right talk about how the NDP is all about increasing taxes, lets hear what Jack has to say about all this.
NDP leader Jack Layton meanwhile, vowed to fight to keep Martin's tax cuts because they help low-income earners.NDP Leader Jack Layton said he was shocked to hear of Harper's plan and said it shows he has no other way to pay for his earlier tax-cut promises.
"The fact this has come forward should give every Canadian citizen pause as to what kind of an agenda is here, and certainly it's the wrong way to go," Layton said after a rally in Vancouver.
For more on the Tax Cuts that aren't see:
Leaders battle over tax cuts
Tags
Canada
Federal Election
Politics
tax cuts
Conservatives
Stephen Harper
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