- CTF to Lay Out $9 Billion in Tax Cuts, $7 Billion in Debt Reduction During Pre-Budget Submission before Commons Finance Committee -

OTTAWA: In a presentation before the House of Commons Finance Committee this evening, Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF) federal director Walter Robinson will present the CTF's pre-budget submission that calls for $8.91 billion in tax relief measures and $7 billion in annual debt reduction to be included in the Millennium budget, expected to be tabled by Finance Minister Paul Martin on February 29, 2000.

Mr. Robinson will testify before the House of Commons Finance committee at 6pm in Room 308, West Block on Parliament Hill this evening, Wednesday, December 1, 1999.

The CTF's tax cut recommendations in order of priority are:

Ending "bracket creep" through the restoration of full-indexation in the income tax system (Fiscal Impact: $1.2 billion);

Elimination of the 5% federal income surtax (Fiscal Impact: $650 million);

A 10% across-the-board income tax cut which would lower income tax thresholds from 17, 26 and 29% to 15, 24 and 27% respectively (Fiscal Impact: $7.06 billion).

The CTF also recommends a legislated schedule of debt reduction which includes:

A $7 billion "line item" expenditure for debt reduction for the next three years increasing to a minimum of 9% of Personal Income Taxes collected by fiscal year 2003/2004.

"These measures reflect the demands of Canadians for immediate and future tax relief," said CTF federal director Walter Robinson. "The Millennium budget must signal that the new century belongs to taxpayers. Implementation of our recommendations would send this signal."

The CTF submission entitled Toward the Millennium: A Taxpayers' Budget also reiterates past calls for a greater focus on true government priorities. The CTF has identified $12 billion in non-priority spending reductions. "Making decisions simply on the basis of the surplus of over-taxation is a myopic approach that the Committee should reject," stated Mr. Robinson. "Re-thinking and re-defining the role of government for the 21st century necessitates a larger and more comprehensive examination of all federal spending programs."