Some Help For The Working Poor

Reduce taxes, provide rent supplements, pickup some of social costs borne by the provinces, etc. are ways the Tories can help the working poor but the feds need to administer these programs and take the provinces and municipalities out of the equation....cost sharing programs have been a disaster with money allocatted at the federal level are not dispensed at the other two levels.

Flaherty touting personal tax cuts

Says surplus will pay for reductions Help for working poor a `priority'

Oct. 3, 2006. 06:24 AM

LES WHITTINGTON

OTTAWA BUREAU

OTTAWA—Finance Minister Jim Flaherty says he expects to have enough money to bring in a raft of personal income tax and sales tax breaks — including help for the working poor — in his next budget. Flaherty, who according to sources wants to be remembered above all as Canada's tax-cutting finance minister, said he is confident that Ottawa will have the cash to afford tax reductions when he brings down a budget in February or March. In addition to personal income tax cuts, the MP from Whitby-Oshawa told the Star he would like to follow through on the Conservative's campaign pledge to trim the GST, beyond the 1-per-cent reduction announced in his last budget. And he said a plan to ease the tax burden on Canadians at the lowest end of the income scale — those trying to break away from social assistance — will be a priority in his budget planning. Asked earlier if he's considering using budget surpluses to reduce Canadians' taxes, he said: "Oh, absolutely. Absolutely. "We want to have further tax reductions in Budget 2007 and in the years after that. We think Canadians are overtaxed," he said outside the Commons. Flaherty has already begun working on next year's budget, and sources say the finance department is putting together a series of tax-cutting options. It is believed the minority Conservative government, which could be forced into a spring election, wants to build its campaign around eye-catching personal tax cut proposals. The Conservatives have been sharply criticized for cutting $1 billion from social programs and other projects last week, at the same time they confirmed Ottawa had a massive budget surplus of $13 billion last year.As for the current 2006-07 fiscal year, Flaherty's May 2 budget called for a surplus of only $3.6 billion. But surpluses have been outpacing predictions by a significant margin. Looking ahead, the finance minister said he's committed to taking steps to help the working poor. These Canadians, who number more than 500,000, can't afford a decent living standard. Income tax policies also tend to discourage people from giving up social assistance for low-paying employment. Ottawa could address this by raising the minimum income level at which taxes are collected, or by providing income supplements.