This is a continuation of a right wing agenda to reduce the influence of the federal government in our economy. An integral part of the agenda will see the federal government deficit increase. The implications of these tax cuts could be disastrous for average Canadians.
Once the taxes are cut for corporations the only option left, for the federal government to deal with the growing deficit, will be to cut transfer payments to the provinces. This will have a devastating impact on public services such as health and education. Currently 21.2 percent ($1.5 billion) of our province’s total revenue comes from health and social transfers and cost shared programs. Considering that our province is running its own deficit, with further cuts from federal funding, our province might find itself having to reduce services.
These tax cuts are not new. Since 2006 the federal government has created $60 billion in tax savings for Canadian corporations. Instead of reducing corporate taxes further we should be demanding more from such profitable entities as banks and oil companies. Corporations don’t need the phasing in of a further income tax cut to the tune of an additional 10.4 billion in 2010 – 2012.
Oil companies make record profits while Canadian banks rake in billions in profits. According to Jim Stanford, an economist with the Canadian Auto Workers Union, in 2010 bonuses at the Big Six banks alone reached 8.9 billion dollars. The Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives recently reported that CEOs in Canada had made as much on the third day of the new year as the average worker will make all year.
It is time that Canadians begin to have a more direct say in the political agenda. The federal opposition parties seem powerless to stop the attack on ordinary Canadians in favor of the corporate CEOs and the companies they run. Working Canadians will ultimately pay the price for lowering taxes for corporations and CEOs. Our taxes will increase and our services will decrease to feed this corporate appetite of greed, the same greed that led to the most recent economic collapse.
Carol A. Furlong
President
Newfoundland & Labrador Association of Public & Public Employees
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