Class war over taxes starts as Parliament resumes
CONSERVATIVES, LIBERALS TRADE TALKING POINTS ON SMALL BUSINESS TAX REFORM
If Justin Trudeau has any legislator’s remorse about his small business tax hike, it is probably nothing compared to the woman now responsible for the worst public policy idea since sub-prime mortgages. Theresa May, the U.K. prime minister, was in Ottawa on Monday, where she was forced to cope with searing heat and the fallout from the decision of her foreign minister, Boris Johnson, to lay out his own vision for Brexit.
“Are you in control of your own cabinet?” asked the gentleman from the BBC.
“You’ve got it wrong — your negotiating structure is a bit of a shambles, isn’t it?” queried his colleague from the Financial Times.
By contrast, the Trudeau government’s proposal on small business tax reform is a very Canadian controversy. Compared to the Shakespearean tragedy of Brexit, it is an amateur dramatic love triangle with two political parties pledging their undying devotion to “hard-working Canadians.”
The first question period of the fall session saw both Conservatives and Liberals unveil their talking points on the issue likely to dominate Canadian politics.
The lack of detail has allowed the opposition parties to define the debate — suggesting penury, ill-health and despair are set to engulf all who have hung out their own shingle.
“Why is the prime minister hurting people he claims he wants to help?” asked Andrew Scheer, the Conservative leader.
The question allowed Trudeau to unleash his own barrage — that “the wealthy,” an undefined yet malign segment of our society, are dodging paying taxes at the same rate as the rest of us. “That’s not right,” he said, claiming his case is based on social justice and fairness.
What hard-working Canadians really need is a Babel fish, the fictional species from Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, to instantly translate political hogwash.
When Scheer talks about the mechanic who might go out of business paying new taxes to cover the “out-of- control spending of the prime minister,” he is attempting to shore up the blue collar vote who supported the Conservatives last time but almost certainly won’t be affected.
When Trudeau talks about it being unfair that “rich Canadians” are not paying their fair share, he is trying to shore up the progressive vote that backed him in 2015 but might be tempted to flirt with the NDP at the next election.
It was noticeable that Bill Morneau, the finance minister, criticized the New Democrats over the weekend for failing to support the measures. Secretly, the Liberals will be delighted they are not.
As has been said in this space before, the road to victory in 2019 for the Liberals runs through Quebec. It depends on maintaining support of more than half of self-described left-of-centre voters.
Scheer can hammer away at Trudeau for characterizing “hard-working entrepreneurs” as tax cheats, but the Liberals don’t care.
They have declared a class war and seem prepared to lose some “blue Liberals,” if it means they keep the orange ones. Trudeau is using intolerance for inequality to pit working class and middle class voters against “the wealthy.”
The muted reaction from those not impacted suggests they have no concerns about living in a country where enterprise and aspiration are derided.
The incongruity of a campaign directed by two trust fund kids who ran their own businesses appears to be lost on voters.
Scheer pointed out the Liberal front bench seemed jittery at the proposal “but that’s nothing compared to the backbench.”
There is nervousness and it will likely result in the proposals being scaled back to ensure they don’t include farmers and convenience store owners.
But the demonization will continue. It is in the Liberal party’s political interests to make some Canadians worse off, rather than trying to make life better for everyone.
Theresa May was forced to deny that Boris is driving Brexit policy from the back seat. But there is no doubt that Trudeau is directing this tax reform from the front seat — and it will likely help sweep him back into power in two years.