I am not one to look a gift horse in the mouth but we have all been here before with Liberal "tax cuts". Here is a sampling from the Post's editorial board. (subscriber only)
...This year, the most an average, middle-class Canadian can hope to see in tax relief will be around $25 a month. And Mr. Average Canadian will have to be content with that until he files his 2010 taxes, at which point he might - might - see another $12 to $14 drop.
...For a government expecting a $13.4 billion surplus in fiscal 2005-06, giving just $5 billion back to over-taxed Canadians is small potatoes. Surpluses are nothing more than excess taxation. If Ottawa finds itself with more than $13 billion left over this year, it is because it had overtaxed Canadians by that amount. Agreeing to give less than 40% back is hardly magnanimous.
Since 1998, when it first balanced its budget, the federal government has taken more than $500 billion in additional taxes out of the economy, over and above the amount it would have needed to keep spending at 1998 levels. Now it is pledging to give 6% of that amount back, provided we tax filers keep electing them and promise to wait another five years to see most of it.
I must say that I am pleased that tax cuts are now part of the national discussion. At a minimum a united-right has forced the Liberals to protect their right flank and stop ripping off tax payers (ok, ripping them off a little bit less). How about the Conservatives tacking even further right and forcing the national consensus to follow. We would all be better off.
Update: It looks like Lorne Gunter contributed heavily to the editorial. He expands on these ideas on his blog (h/t NealeNews)
...The Alliance's plan [in 2000] was widely reported as being worth $120 billion, while the Liberals' was $100 billion. Yet almost no outlet bothered to compare the timelines of the two cuts. The Alliance intended to give most of its relief upfront. Most of the Liberal cuts were backloaded -- coming at the end of a long phase-in period.
In the first year of the Alliance's plan, an average Canadian family would have received $1,200 in relief. Under the Liberal plan, they received just $200, or $16 a month -- one, single-topping pizza, no dipping sauce or breadsticks.
In the end, Canadians maybe got $40 billion in tax reductions over the five-year Liberal plan, a far cry from the $100 billion the government claimed it would generate.
emphasis added
Anyone want to bet how much of the $39 billion actually happens.
This does leave an opening for the Conservatives (the "party of tax cuts"...that is amusing everytime I hear it) to introduce a tax relief program that is upfront and more broadbased. And this time they have to communicate their advantages more.
