Don’t back down too far on tax fairness plan

No doubt the news that the federal government will make changes to its so-called tax-fairness proposals in the wake of significant public feedback is causing sighs of relief among some Canadians.

Some would have been facing legitimate hardship under the original proposals, although not nearly as many as tax-fairness critics would have us believe. Many others believed what they were told, some of it misleading and even false, by the best-funded, most intensive lobby effort in recent memory. And of course the partisan critics themselves will be applauding. Conservative finance critic Pierre Poilievre is already calling the news a “climbdown” and taking credit for saving the middle class from untold misery.

Fair enough. We don’t know exactly what changes the Liberals will be proposing, but no one, including them, ever said the proposals were perfect. But Bill Morneau needs to be careful he doesn’t throw the baby out with the bathwater. Many credible voices, from academia, finance and other sectors agree with the aim of growing tax fairness among all Canadians. And many agree the tax-fairness proposals, properly fine-tuned and executed, go some distance toward that objective.

Those voices were not the loudest in this debate. High-powered and well-monied lobby groups like the Canadian Medical Association, chambers of commerce and business lobby groups dominated the airwaves and headlines.

But guess what? Even with that successful lobby effort, even with the federal Conservatives literally declaring war on the proposals and spending millions in the process, a new public opinion poll shows that a slim majority of Canadians support the measures. The Ekos-Canadian Press survey suggested that, based on what people know now, 49 cent support the proposals while 44 per cent are against. “Given the vehemence of the initial response, some have speculated that the governing Liberals are being hurt by these proposals. In our view, this does not appear to be the case,” EKOS said of the poll that surveyed just under 5,000 people between Sept. 15 and Oct. 1, when the tax fairness debate dominated Parliament.

Two final observations: One, Andrew Scheer’s party threw everything it had, including an expensive ad campaign, against the proposals, but wasn’t able to significantly change public opinion. That doesn’t reflect well on the Conservatives.

But, two, it does suggest what we’ve argued here before: Levelling the playing field for all taxpayers is an idea average Canadians can support. The government needs to be very careful that it doesn’t erode that original purpose, otherwise it will appear to be knuckling under to elite, well-funded lobbyists and ignoring those vital Canadian voices who make up the silent majority.