Dear editor
The federal Conservative government will forgo a surplus this year and instead borrow money to pay for income splitting and other new tax measures, according to its own fall economic update.
In the last two months the Conservatives announced more than $3 billion in tax changes for this year, including an expensive income-splitting scheme. If they had followed the plan laid out by the late Jim Flaherty, the federal budget would have a small surplus this year instead of a $3- billion deficit.
The Conservatives' new income-splitting scheme (which they call “the Family Tax Cut”) won't give a dime to more than 85 per cent of Canadian households. But it will cost Canadians $2.4 billion this year.
Scott Brison
Ottawa
Brison is the Liberal party's finance critic. Ed.
