Harper/Flaherty's "voodoo economics" at work again... (from the latest Goodale Update):
CONSERVATIVE DISCRIMINATION AGAINST SMALL BUSINESS
Additional tax cuts for big business are the only discernible economic policy of the Harper government.
Let’s put them in context.
There are about 2.2 million businesses in Canada in total. Mr. Harper’s corporate tax cuts will benefit about 110,000 of those businesses. That’s 1-in-20, just 5%.
The corporations that qualify tend to be the biggest and wealthiest.
They already had their tax rate cut by 35% over the past few years. They already had the lowest rate in the G-7 (except for the UK). They already had a 10-point (or 25%) rate advantage over the United States. In other words, their Canadian taxes were already “globally competitive”.
How will these extra tax cuts (for the privileged few) be paid for? With borrowed money – $6 billion every year. That’s because this country is mired in a $56 billion Conservative deficit. And remember, that deficit got started through excessive Conservative spending and risky fiscal practices long BEFORE there was any recession to blame.
Will these tax cuts stimulate employment? Not likely. The Chief Economic Analyst for Statistics Canada says their job-creating value is “trivial”. Even the federal Finance Department says corporate tax cuts are the least effective way to create immediate jobs.
Big business is not Canada’s primary job creator. That important role is played by small businesses. And the vast majority of them don’t qualify for these tax cuts.
In fact, all small businesses – indeed every employer and employee in the country – are facing new Conservative TAX INCREASES this year. The Harper government is hiking job-killing payroll taxes through higher EI premiums.
Over the next four years, these increased Conservative payroll taxes will rake in a total of $16.6 billion! So the vast majority of Canadian businesses are NOT getting any tax cut at all, only this recurring payroll tax hike.
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