Changes have nothing to do with fairness

Re: Feds back off employee-discount tax, call for discussion — Oct. 12

The Canada Revenue Agency has exposed the lies about the proposed Liberal tax changes.

The Liberals preached tax fairness in order to extract more taxes to satisfy their insatiable need for more spending. According to the Fraser Institute, they have already extracted another $840 per household from the middle class so now it’s time to go after the really bad guys; doctors, lawyers and all those small businesses.

The proposed changes have nothing to do with fairness — it’s all about more revenue. You don’t have to be a CPA to know that when you start taxing billions of income at 73 per cent rather than 53 per cent you will rake in billions annually.

If taxes were about fairness, the Canada Revenue Agency would not have backed down from its position on taxable benefits in the retail sector. How is it fair for someone working in the retail sector to receive a nontaxable benefit from discounts when their neighbour working at a law firm pays full price with after-tax dollars?

The Income Tax Act is full of regulations that are unfair. One could dedicate an entire book to them. So let’s stop the rhetoric. The Liberals thought that the public would rally behind them under the guise of “tax the rich.” The plan was ill conceived and badly roiled out. The finance minister, himself a multimillionaire, will surely pay the price for this with his political future. Al Beaupre Kitchener