As a rule the average Canadian taxpayer when following the campaign trail has three basic interests that they want to see being addressed in the campaign promises. This is keeping the taxes to a minimum, no continued slashing of programs, and increased employment opportunities. While these may vary in order of priority to each individual they are each considered to be important.
We have seen that the indications are that the Liberals are going to be fairly aggressive towards the current tax program that’s in place and will do some slashing of tax credits. This is proposed to be effective against the higher income brackets.
The current government is hoping to get back in office and the Conservatives are holding out the carrot of a four year tax lock Law. Basically what this means is that there would be no increases in taxes during that four year period. This is a something that has never been proposed before, and there is no doubt should the Harper government get back into office and put this tax lock into effect, that it is going to be opposed by the other parties. Of course the opposition’s campaigning mandate is to listen to what the other parties are proposing, then attack those ideas. The Liberals feel that this is just downright silly and they believe that the Canadian people will not welcome it with open arms.
When you look at the platform of the three parties you can see that they all have contrasting tax policies. They are all making this an important part of their platform because they know that taxes are a very important issue to the taxpayer. Their hope is that their plans will be the most appealing to their potential voters.
This can make it difficult and confusing for the taxpayer for a few reasons. It will depend on what segment of the proposed tax changes in the campaigns affect them the most. Then they have to determine whether the proposals are valid and can be carried out. Finally, will they be carried out should that particular party become elected?
On the surface when comparing it to the Liberals plan of action regarding taxes, the tax lock does seem somewhat appealing as it would allow most Canadian taxpayers to know that at least for the next four years they were going to be fairly stable. They may be able to do some tax planning knowing that there were no big changes coming in the tax program for those years.
