Trudeau tax changes a mixed bag for taxpayers

Justin Trudeau’s Liberals sailed to a majority government in the Oct. 19 election on a message of change. So what will this “change” mean for Canadians’ pocketbooks? A look at the Liberal election platform tells us it’s a mixed bag.

Start with the good news. The Liberals have promised to cut the middle income-tax rate, for those making $44,000 to $89,000 a year, to 20.5 per cent from 22 per cent. This is a welcome move, and something the Harper government repeatedly took a pass on in favour of countless boutique tax credits.

The Liberals have also pledged to reduce the small-business tax rate to nine per cent from 11, which will provide some relief to small businesses struggling in uncertain economic times.

Unfortunately, there’s a lot more to be concerned about on the bad side of the tax ledger. The Liberal platform contains a litany of tax hikes — some obvious, and some less so.

First off, there’s the pledge to add a new 33 per cent income tax bracket on those earning more than $200,000 a year. While it might be true that the wealthy are not always the easiest bunch to feel sorry for, punishing success and wealth creation is a bad signal to send to our entrepreneurs and other highly skilled workers.

There’s also the proposed cancellation of income-splitting, which benefits thousands of Canadian families, and treats households more equally, based on their total income, and not whether one or two parents is doing the breadwinning.

The Liberals have promised to roll back the limit on tax-free savings accounts. TFSAs are an extremely popular investment vehicle for Canadians (there are more than 11 million of them). Lowering the investment limit could have negative impacts for millions of Canadians, especially older Canadians who have been using them to maximize retirement savings.

Meanwhile, vague promises about “enhancing” the Canada Pension Plan could mean even smaller paycheques for workers — not to mention a payroll tax on employers.

But worst of all for taxpayers are the countless promises to spend. Actually, we can count it: $150 billion over four years. True, some of it will be paid for by cancelling other programs. But there’s still a considerable hole in the numbers, to the tune of $10 billion a year for the first three years, after which we’re told the budget will — according to the Liberal platform — balance itself.

(Ontarians in particular might be familiar with this magical plan to balance the books.)

Why is this bad for taxpayers? Because running deficits means more debt. And more debt means more tax dollars wasted on interest payments rather than actual programs and services. This leaves cash-strapped governments desperate to find more money, which they inevitably do by raising taxes.

In fact, this describes exactly what is happening today. Because of the chronic deficits of the past — a trend started by none other than Pierre Trudeau — we now have $612 billion in federal debt. This debt cost taxpayers $26 billion in interest payments last year — nearly the same amount raised by the GST. If we had no federal debt, that money would easily pay for all the promises in the Liberal plan, with lots left over for tax cuts. But the reckless spending of the past has robbed us of that choice.

Justin Trudeau still has an opportunity to learn from his father’s mistakes, rather than repeat them. If he does the latter, taxpayers will pay a high price.

Aaron Wudrick is federal director of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation.