I’ll end corporate income tax

What is the most profound public policy change that could boost Canadian living standards? A tax on carbon? Higher deficits? Raising taxes on higher earners?

No. Those are being tried right now by the Liberals in Ottawa and they are unlikely to do anything but reduce economic growth and job creation. The best answer to moving Canada’s economy forward is the least talkedabout policy: eliminating corporate income tax (CIT).

Right now, the CIT is a $40-billion annual burden on creating wealth and jobs and higher wages for Canadians. The tax reduces investment and savings and it artificially boosts consumption, using resources today instead of putting them to work for even bigger gains in the future.

It lowers workers’ takehome pay because most of the cost of corporate taxation is passed into their wages. It reduces investment and job opportunities by raising the cost of capital and reducing productivity. Lower investment and less And because the economy and the business sector are smaller than they could be, there are fewer tax dollars to support our social programs and transfers.

All of these dire effects can be reversed by eliminating CIT.

Estimates by U.S. economists predict gains of 30 income tax. We could see an even greater effect in Canada because of our more open economy and the impact of global investors responding to this profound change in a G7 nation.

The only way to move forward and end CIT is with political leadership, since public discussion is almost non-existent and politicians are playing small ball with less important issues. My primary commitment, if elected as the next leader of the Conservative Party, is to end this tax and free Canada’s economy to create more jobs and raise wages.

Canadians deserve the best possible economic policies and this is certainly an idea whose time has come.