Likes:
- The marriage penalty is being eliminated, finally. It simply made no sense that a sole breadwinner or a single parent should pay more in income tax than two parents making the same amount of money. For many families, it will be substantially more than the $209 the Finance Department is quoting.
- After nearly two decades, the child credit on income taxes is being restored. $2000 per child may sound like a lot but in reality this works out to $310. I suspect though, as with many other tax measures, that most parents will wait till tax time to get a bigger refund, rather than filling in a TD-1 (tax withholding form) so they can get the money in their paycheque. It might have been better just to add $30 a month to the monthly Child Tax Benefit -- the net result would have been the same.
- The capital gains exemption for farmers and fishermen goes up 50%, from $500k to $750k. This will help a lot of people who might otherwise go bankrupt even if they sold their family business. The $500k threshold has also been left unchanged for quite some time so this is merely playing catch-up.
- The transit pass credit will also apply to e-passes and weekly pass holders, not just monthly.
- Eliminating interest detectability on foreign affiliates. Wonder if this will also apply to the banks, who have substantial holdings in the Caribbean.
- Moving towards a single securities exchange and regulator. This is good if for no other reasons than it will ensure someone banned from the markets will be banned nationwide; and that securities fraud will be a criminal matter and not merely a civil one.
- Equalization goes to a ten-province average over three years with a 50% exclusion rate. This may tick off Alberta, but they're getting more in transfer payments anyway.
Dislikes:
- The tax incentives for oil sands will end ... eventually, as in 2015. This gives the energy companies plenty of time to poison what's left of Alberta's ground water.
- The exemption for 48 hour trips out of Canada goes from $200 to $400. Yes, it's good it's going up. But it's nowhere near enough to address border lineups. I'd make it $1000 every 30 days, with the ability for families to pool (eg. a family of four could bring back $4000). The focus should be on intercepting terrorists and illegal immigrants -- not scofflaws who would rip off the feds for, say, 10 bucks.
- Some gas tax money for cities, but not the one cent solution (one cent out of every six from the GST).
- One interesting item, from page 323, says that nearly a quarter of the national debt is up for refinancing this year. Interest rates have been generally low and if some of the higher interest bonds can be redeemed for lower that isn't so bad -- it will help accelerate debt retirement even more. Who will hold our debt? Trustworthy countries like the US, Australia and the EU states? Or dictatorships like Mainland China, Singapore and Saudi Arabia? No guarantees are even proposed on this count.
- Nothing for a day care strategy. Just more tax incentives. Where did that get us the last year?
- People in the territories, Labrador and other remote areas, as well as in work camps continue to get shafted. The northern deduction is still a measly $15 a day. It's been at that level since -- well, I can't remember the last time it was increased. We're trying to protect Arctic sovereignty as we exploit our resources there. Shouldn't there be an incentive to move?
This is overall an election budget. The Bloc will support it so it will pass. While there are tax relief measures for most, the fact remains the trough goes to the fat cats. I'll give credit to Flaherty for at least trying this time instead of last year -- so he's gone from a D+ to a C. Not just satisfactory but adequate. There's still more that could be done, though.
1 comment:
Good post
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