By Pepper Parr
November 5, 2014
BURLINGTON, ON.
They have a neat name _ Team Gould and they are going to make sure Burlingtonians fully understand what the federal government is – and isn’t doing for them.
Karina Gould, the Liberal candidate for the October 2015 election in Burlington, , would like to set the record straight about the Conservatives’ income splitting announcement, which has been criticized by renowned economists.
The Conservatives’ “income splitting plan is bad for growth and is bad for the middle class.” Even the late Conservative Minister of Finance, the Honourable Jim Flaherty, spoke about his serious concerns about this tax break which abandons the middle class.
“In contrast to the Conservative party, I believe Canada must do a better job of ensuring that new tax policies help the middle class and families at the lower end of the income spectrum,” said Gould. “It is unfair to ask middle class families to pay for this tax break from which single parents and families with parents in the same income bracket will not benefit. It will cost $2 billion a year at a time when both childcare and senior care are at a crisis in this country.”
“Income splitting plan is bad for growth and is bad for the middle class claims federal Liberal candidate Karina Gould
“At a time when many individuals and families are still struggling, we need to be investing in our future in a way that addresses the challenges faced by all Canadians,” stated Gould.
“Liberals will oppose this policy”, Gould added “and we will continue to put forward positive solutions that will help our economy grow and give the people of Burlington and all Canadians a real and fair chance at success.”
Gould didn’t say what a Liberal government would do instead of the income splitting plan the Conservatives have come up.
I don’t even understand the article. Pepper, I know you’re a long time Liberal, but just asking a candidate ‘do you like the income splitting plan from the Conservatives’ and getting an answer of ‘no’ isn’t much of a story. Any time you offer a tax decrease it’s natural that the people that pay more tax will benefit. If you earn 25k and don’t pay any tax, of course you’re not going to benefit from a tax reduction, but it doesn’t make the idea of a tax reduction any less valid.
To use Karina’s words, if it’s unfair to ask families in the same tax bracket to support a tax decrease for families in different tax brackets, is it also unfair to ask childless families to support the childcare ‘crisis’ to which she refers? A bit of a break in logic there.
Editor’s note:
You make having a political stance sound like a crime. The piece we ran came from the candidate. The current MP has the same opportunity. We note with interest that the current MP does not send any of the government news releases to the Gazette even though we are an accredited news organization and are members of the Ontario Press Council. We get news releases from the city, from the Regional government, from the provincial government as well as scores of other organizations.
Typical…..blindly criticize and offer no solutions.