Taxes becoming a big election issue

It would appear that Stephen Harper and the Conservatives want to make taxes a big election issue. Last week the Conservatives offered up their plan to chop the GST from 7% down to 5%. You can also find Conservative campaign advertisements where Harper criticizes the Liberals for "over taxing Canadians" over the past twelve years.

This week the Conservative Party released its Opportunity Plan for Small Business, a package that will lower small business taxes and create apprenticeship positions. The plan will raise the threshold for the small business tax rate from $300,000 to $400,000 and reduce the small business tax rate from 12 per cent to 11 per cent over five years.

Meanwhile on the Liberal web site, the party is promoting its success in developing a strong Canadian economy over the past 12 years and in delivering eight consecutive balanced budgets. Yet the tax issue also figures prominently:

"The Liberal government is committed to providing tax relief - putting more money in the hands of Canadians and making Canadian businesses more competitive. To create the right investment for future prosperity, our government recently announced a new tax reduction plan that will deliver more than $30 billion in personal and corporate tax relief over the current year and the next five years. The majority of this, 95 per cent, , will go to individual Canadians – especially low- and modest-income Canadians."

Looks like we can look forward to both parties duking it out over the next month with election promises of both increased spending and tax cuts.