Scheer lays out $6-billion tax cut
SURREY, B.C. • Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer unveiled a $6-billion tax cut Sunday in his first campaign swing through British Columbia.
Scheer visited the home of a couple in the Vancouver suburb of Surrey to promise he will cut the tax rate on the lowest federal income bracket — the one charged on income up to $47,630 — from 15 per cent to 13.75 per cent over the next four years.
“I wish I could say life has gotten easier for Canada’s middle class but it has not,” Scheer said. “People are working harder than ever but many are barely getting by or even falling further behind. They’re definitely not getting ahead.”
Scheer delivered the promise in a carefully crafted scene in Gretchen and Reed’s living room — the couple didn’t want their last name used — with perfectly placed cups of coffee, a plate of oatmeal cookies and a printout of a tax form on the coffee table in front of them.
Scheer has been critical of Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau for cutting tax credits the former Conservative government introduced to offset the costs of putting children in sports or arts classes, buying textbooks and using transit passes.
The Liberals eliminated those credits when they created the Canada Child Benefit in the 2016 budget, which rolled together a litany of previous benefits to help families with the costs of raising their children, and increased the total payout most people receive. Scheer has said he intends to keep that benefit in place as well.
Last Friday, Scheer promised to revive the transit tax credit, worth 15 per cent of the cost of monthly or annual transit passes.
Sunday’s income-tax promise, which the Tories are calling a “universal tax cut,” would reduce the tax rate on the first chunk of earned income from 15 per cent to 14.5 in 2021, 14 per cent in 2022, and finally 13.75 per cent in 2023.
The parliamentary budget office estimates the cut will cost the treasury $6 billion a year if fully implemented, though Scheer said forgoing that revenue would still allow him to balance the federal budget in five years.
Scheer said a two-income couple earning average salaries would save about $850 a year from his tax cut.
Scheer is also still facing criticism about his decision to stick by candidates who have posted discriminatory things on social media. He said earlier Sunday that as long as candidates apologize and commit to treating everyone equally, he will not forbid them to run as Conservatives.
The comments are being unearthed by the Liberals, often released to coincide with appearances Scheer makes with them. Scheer said the dirt is flying because the Liberals are trying to distract from their own record.