Cancel the corporate tax cuts: No tax cuts
Letter to the Editor
By David Lundy
Ottawa Citizen February 4, 2011
Re: Let the private sector drive growth, Jan. 29.
Canadian Chamber of Commerce president Perrin Beatty's arguments in favour of more corporate tax cuts ring hollow and are disingenuous.
His main point is that corporations were promised this tax cut and we have to agree because everyone else is doing it. We'd all like a raise this year, some of us were even promised one, but because of the recession we're being told to tighten our belts. Why can't corporations do the same? The Harper government will have to borrow the $6 billion needed for the tax cut and it will get added to the deficit. No doubt, that money will be paid back by the rest of us — either in cuts to public services or higher personal income taxes. Working Canadians and their families have done their part, through higher user fees and decreased services. There have been corporate tax cuts every year for the last decade. Our tax rates are now lower than those of the U. S, Britain and all our major trading partners. Are we trying to catch Ireland? I sure hope not because Ireland is now on the edge of bankruptcy. Let's have some tax fairness — a system where everyone pays their fair share. Is that too much to ask?
David Lundy,
Merrickville
Regional vice-president
Ontario Public Service Employees Association