Flaherty's missed opportunity; Time for something new from our New Government
Penticton Herald
31 Oct 2007
Opinion

… In total, Canadians will save a collective $6 billion in GST each year. When April 2008 rolls around, an income tax cut announced yesterday will also save Canadians an additional $3.5 billion.

At a time when Ottawa is facing one of its largest surpluses in history, any tax cut, whether it be to the GST or income tax, is an easy target. The phrase "tax cut" is pleasing to a taxpayer's ears.

But a one per cent GST cut at a time when the economy and personal spending power are growing at a phenomenal rate does not make sense.

A one per cent GST cut pales in comparison to other strategies for spending the surplus, like helping pay down a total federal debt still measured in the hundreds of billions, putting $6 billion towards this country's affordable housing crisis, or living up to commitments to eradicate child poverty. …

This country's economy is moving at such a fast clip it's only the most impoverished who have been unaffected by our positive economic growth .

And those are precisely the people who will be least impacted by a one per cent GST cut.

Flaherty's fiscal update had some good news for Canadians. But it also missed something important: an opportunity to make a real difference at a time when Canadians can most afford it.