Robbing from the poor to give to the rich
Yesterday Stephen Harper lowered GST (The Canada-wide goods and services tax) from 7% to 6%. Because I am not yet a Canadian resident, this is about the only thing in a budget tax adjustment which would have any effect on me. Although, I can’t really see it saving me more than $100 in a year.
Lower income tax has been increased from 15% to 15.5% for the first income bracket. If you combine that with the GST reduction it seems that someone with low earnings wouldn’t see any change because their savings on GST would be absorbed into a higher income tax bill. People in the highest tax bracket stand to save the most (if they spend the most - which they probably do)…
Once immigration is sorted it is going to be interesting seeing the huge differences between the Canadian tax system and the UK one. The Canadian tax and benefits system is incredibly conservative in its design, especially compared with the UK. Anyway, we shall see!
