Monday, November 14th, 2005
Mini-budget includes cuts to personal, business taxes
By: Sandra Cordon Email Story Printer Friendly Version
OTTAWA — The beleaguered Liberal government will promise significant cuts to personal income taxes and a sprinkling of corporate tax reductions today in a pre-election mini-budget that offers something for everyone.
Finance Minister Ralph Goodale will promise to lighten the tax burden on Canadians, reiterate an earlier plan to cut billions from corporate taxes and introduce other business tax changes as part of a broader plan to boost the economy, sources say.
‘‘There will be real specifics in terms of tax cuts … some approaches will be novel,’’ a government source told The Canadian Press.
Tax relief — particularly aimed at middle-class Canadians — will be highlighted in a weighty two-part do ent that will promise immediate measures as well as a longer-term plan to boost growth in the face of tough global compe ion and an aging population. But the inclusion of specific tax and spending measures have led angry opposition MPs to denounce the do ent as pure politics.
They have threatened to block Goodale from presenting his plan to the Commons all-party finance committee — a tactic that would likely force the minister to instead deliver it at a press conference late in the day.
Hundreds of millions of dollars in new training and research and development programs will also be outlined in the do ent, which was originally designed as a simple, mid-year update of Ottawa’s books and the state of the economy.
But with opposition parties threatening to force a federal election soon after Christmas — which would make a full winter budget unlikely — Goodale has been forced to beef up the do ent into a plan that Liberals can campaign on.
All the political debate forced Goodale to write at least four drafts before producing today’s do ent.
Goodale has brushed off criticism that his plan was too political for the Commons and called on the opposition to let his government do its work.
Goodale is expected to announce in today’s do ent that Ottawa is on track to record a surplus as high as $12 billion for the current fiscal year ending March 31, 2006 — far more than the $4-billion surplus he had predicted in last February’s budget.
That makes tax cuts and new education spending affordable, while still leaving some money for a rainy day or debt reduction, sources say.
He’ll also outline increased spending for post-secondary education and skills training; research and development; and infrastructure dollars plus administrative moves to reduce red tape for businesses.
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A budget surplus? That can actually happen?Goodale is expected to announce in today’s do ent that Ottawa is on track to record a surplus as high as $12 billion for the current fiscal year ending March 31, 2006 — far more than the $4-billion surplus he had predicted in last February’s budget.
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