But in reality, the Conservatives plan increases the federal tax take, increases government spending, and fails to provide a truly austere plan to balance the budget. It will, therefore, do little to improve economic growth and create jobs.
taxes
But in reality, the Conservatives plan increases the federal tax take, increases government spending, and fails to provide a truly austere plan to balance the budget. It will, therefore, do little to improve economic growth and create jobs.
Coincidentally, Finance Minister Jim Flaherty is also scheduled to deliver the federal budget on Tax Freedom Day. All expectations for the budget are that it will look much like the March version, dubiously entitled A Low-Tax Plan for Jobs and Growth.
Happy Tax Freedom Day! Monday, British Columbians start working for themselves. In other words, if we had to pay all our taxes up front, we would have to pay each and every dollar we earned from January 1 to June 5 to various levels of government.
This of course, translates into an awful lot of money. In fact, the average British Columbian family with two or more individuals will hand-over about $36,600 in taxes to their federal, provincial and local governments (42.7% of their income).
When Ed Clark, TD Bank CEO, recently said that nearly all members of the Canadian Council of Chief Executives (a group composed of 150 of Canada's top CEOs) want the federal government to hike the GST to combat the deficit, he earned a quick rebuke from the Conservatives, who rejected his suggestion and referred to him in an email as the millionaire economic Czar to the Liberals. This in turn provoked responses from Liberal heavyweights including both Michael Ignatieff and former PM Jean Chretien.