GST cut does nothing for lowest income bracket
Well, I was out yesterday buying a bottle of pop, and instead of costing me $2.29, it instead came to $2.28. Thanks, Stephen! I wonder if the bank will let me open a special savings account for all the pennies I'm going to save thanks to this wonderful tax cut?
The London Free Press writes today that the GST cut does nothing to help the lowest income bracket (they get GST rebates, anyway), and actually hurts them because, to afford it, Harper had to jack up their income taxes by half a percent, anyway. That's not to mention the fact that it's panned by almost every serious economist out there, who all agree that income tax cuts are the way to go, as they spur economic investment.
posted by Ryan Ringer @ 7/02/2006 01:39:00 p.m.
14 comments
14 Comments:
"Long-pounded their chests about doing away with the tax."
Actually, the Liberals were on record as early as 1995 (or 1996) saying that the GST was here to stay.
So basically what you're saying is, if a $150,000 house becomes $1000 cheaper after taxes - that's a mortgage payment or two - that's better than the significant cut in income taxes that could have come out of the billions of dollars this GST cut is costing the government? Are you serious? Is one extra month of paying a mortgage (those things that take years to pay off) actually preferable to an actual tax cut that stimulates the economy?
Hey Buddy...your party could not give any kind of a cut except for excellent financing that you got as a gift from paul martin..you are making a mess of the finances already ........wont be long before were back in the hole.Guess we will have to fix it up again next year
Well, it should actually have been $2.27....but anyway liberals have never been very good with the truth...by the way I thought Liberals were going to get rid of this tax altogether...oh yeah just another broken promise....
I am on medical leave from work at the moment. Unpaid leave. I have been through all of 2006. An income tax cut does nothing for me. Cutting the GST helps me.
If you make less than the basic personal exemption an income tax cut doesn't help you. If you earn very little income you don't qualify for a GST credit. Cutting the GST helps people in those situations. Income tax cuts do not.
Also if I remember correctly Paul Martin and Jean Chretien are on record as being opposed to the GST.
Low income families spend all of their money on goods & services, so they will save some, not a lot.
Why is it always about low income people. Do the rest of Canadians (majority) not deserve a break too? After all, it is the rest of us paying for the assistance programs to help fellow Canadians.
Young people think about the less fortunate, that's good. As you toughen up with age, you will realize that being less fortune, or not, often times has been within your own control.
Don't complain, you actually got to save something... it's day two for me and I haven't saved a single friggen penny yet, personally I'm starting to think it doesn't work unless you're a Conservative.
Well okay, let's be clear here.
The Harper GST cut was driven by political expediency, not economic necessity.
But...I much prefer Harper's expediency to that of Liberals who, instead of giving us back our own money (however negligible it may be), prefer instead to sprinkle it around as bribes for their own special interests - multicultralism grants, ACOA, Bombardier, you name it.
And Ryan, be honest. Although an income tax cut would be preferable to a GST cut, which party do you think is more likely to eventually bring in real, long-lasting cuts to income taxes?
Do you honestly believe that Harper won't, as Prime Minister, give us cuts to income tax? I suggest that the GST cut is just a primer of what is to come.
In the next election, it is almost certain that BOTH the Liberal and Conservative platforms will be promising significant income tax reductions. Which party do you think the electorate will believe?
I love how you're able to admit that the GST cut was lousy economics and pure political expediency, yet blindly support it anyway. Doublethink, much.
I don't "blindly" support it.
I said that if politicians are going to craft certain policies for political expediency - and they will ALWAYS do so - then I would rather it be a policy to allow me to keep more of my money (GST cut) than multi-billion dollar bribes to bloated special interest groups (the Liberal way).
There's little doubt that Harper will unveil a comprehensive income tax cut plan in time for the next election.
"Keeping more of your own money" is a bit deceptive. Saving a couple of bucks a year is hardly something to cheer about, especially since a lot of provinces (most of them, I think) are planning on raising their HST in response.
Well, it's a little more than a "few dollars" in the long run, but I certainly won't argue that a percentage point cut in the GST represents significant savings. I don't think Harper himself ever argued this. Where it counts is on the big items - houses, cars. Which may not do much for the low-income stratum, but certainly does for the long-suffering middle class.
If provinces choose to raise taxes, that is their prerogative. It still does not take away from Harper's tax cut and in any case, a transfer is tax points to the provinces is reasonable. It may prevent provinces from hanging by a thread as a result of ruthless slashes in transfer payments, as Paul Martin instituted in 1995.
Do you really think that Harper is opposed to deep income tax cuts? I don't think your party will convince anyone of that.
The point is that he cut a tax that didn't need to be cut, not because it was the right thing to do, but because it was politically expedient. And for you to defend that is pure partisanship of the worst kind.
I got wind that 99.9% of businesses won't actually be passing the savings on to the consumer anyway.
They have cited that it would cost too much to change over their accounting systems, registers, and other such devices so as it stands, that 1% cut you aren't going to see anyway, it'll just be added income to the businesses. How sweet it is.
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