Happy days for PM [Harper might deliver biggest tax cut Canada has ever seen]

Toronto Sun ^ | 2007-10-09 | Greg Weston

[Clive]

If Stephen Harper's minority government lasts long enough to pass its next federal budget sometime early next year, Canadian taxpayers could be in for what one Conservative insider predicts will be "the biggest single tax cut in the country's history."

That's a big "if."

Stephane Dion and his Liberal party may have an election machine with no money to run on, no policy map to follow, and no leadership strong enough to haul the wreckage out of the ditch anytime soon.

But the Liberal leader and his rapidly changing crew of advisers are at least smart enough to avoid getting into an election race against a Conservative gravy train loaded with loot.

Loaded is an understatement.

Barring a major economic downturn over the next six months, there is every reason to believe last year's whopping $14-billion surplus (read: overtaxation) will be repeated, and maybe even exceeded.

By rough calculation, that would leave enough leftover cash in the till to cut the personal income taxes of every Canadian by more than 10%, or an average of something like $700 a year.

Alternatively, the same amount would buy a 50% increase in old age pensions; a 75% hike in federal health spending; cutting the GST in half to 3%; or a hefty combination of all of the above.

Well, you get the point. By federal budget time, roughly six months from now, the Harper government will have enough money in its spare-change drawer to buy every swing voter in the country several times over.

Conservative insiders say the decision to blow a wad of the surplus on tax cuts is as much about retail politics as it is good economics.

"There may be a negative perception out there that the Conservatives are just another tax-and-spend government like the Liberals," one well-informed Tory told me recently.

"The last budget was heavy on the spending side ... and there is a sense that we need to fix that with some serious tax breaks."

The fact that Conservatives are telegraphing their tax-cutting intentions now suggests that Harper's strategists are doubtful the current Parliament will last long enough for the finance minister to table the next budget sometime in late winter 2008.

If you can't deliver tax breaks, might as well at least promise them.

For instance, expect plenty of strong rhetoric about tax relief in the government's throne speech a week from today as the Conservatives set out their agenda priorities for the coming months.

If Harper's government survives various votes on the throne speech, the next stop en route to lower taxes will likely be the routine fall economic update.

In past, governments teetering on the brink of a federal election have often turned the fall report card on the country's finances into an early mini-budget.

Conservative insiders tell us with some authority that's exactly what Finance Minister Jim Flaherty is considering, using his update in late October or early November to announce at least some tax goodies.

The move would be aimed both at appeasing those hard-core Tories disgruntled with the Harper government's big-spending habits, and at beleaguered taxpayers everywhere who are just looking for a break.

BONUS FEATURE

As an added bonus for the Conservatives, including tax measures in the fiscal update would once again leave Dion sporting a gun at his head.

If the Grits vote against a money bill, the Harper government would fall, and the Liberals would enter an election campaign as the intrepid killers of tax cuts.

Alternatively, the Liberals could support the Conservatives' fiscal plan, avoid an immediate trip to the polls, and provide the Tories with perfect attack-ad material when an election is finally called.

The good news is no matter what happens, it seems a safe bet Canadian taxpayers will emerge from all these political machinations with more money in their pockets.

[Clive]

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[fanfan]

[Corporate Law]

Great tagline!

[Grig]

fingers crossed

[GreenLanternCorps]

“Life is Good” -Stephen Harper

[Nathan Zachary]

There is another reason for a fair sized tax cut, and that is to put a stop to Liberal whining about Alberta's oil revenues. This would put Liberals, should they regain power some time in the future, in a unpopular position of having to drastically raise taxes to implement a decrease in Alberta's oil output through some sort of Kyoto greenhouse gas law Stephanie Dion and his dog toto has been dreaming about. The Democrats, led by that idiotic wingnut Jack Layton, would of course commit political suicide by fiercely opposing any tax cut at all, demanding instead to raise taxes for all sorts of Socialist goodies like free housing, free Russian cars, and more government agencies.

Also more Nazi police to monitor the sheeple and arrest anyone having fun after they ban all atv's, power boats, sports that are too violent like football and hockey, dangerous sports like skiing and auto racing.
And anyone caught smoking.

[goldstategop]

Cutting taxes is good economics, good management and yes - good politics. The Conservatives would get to go into a general election as tax cutters. Its opponents want to maintain the heavy tax burden on Canadians. I say they picked their fight well.

"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus

[Catholic Canadian]

The best part is the lefties will only be able to harp about really only two issues - the environment and the war in Afghanistan.

[fanfan]

Thank you. :-)

It is a quote of Stephen Harper speaking at the “Wear Red on Fridays” rally on Parliament Hill, last fall.