This week's release of the latest Employment Insurance (EI) account figures provides clear evidence that Paul Martin has balanced the budget on the backs of Canadian taxpayers.

In the first three months of 1998, EI claims paid out by the feeds totaled $716 million. But this pales in comparison to the $3.6 billion that the feeds took off the paycheques of working Canadians during the same period.

This $2.9 billion surplus is a tax on workers which is now added to the $7.1 billion surplus that the EI account ran last year. And when you add in previous surpluses, the fund now stands at $15.7 billion and is projected to reach $20 billion by the time you open your Christmas presents.

This overtaxation, or more appropriately, gouging of Canadian workers and employers by Paul Martin, is utterly shameful.

According to the Chief Actuary of the EI fund, premiums could be immediately cut to $2.00 per $100 of insurable earnings from the current rate of $2.70 and still provide a reasonable surplus in the EI account which is needed in case of an economic downturn.

But the Minister has refused to act. Why Because Paul Martin is addicted to tax revenues. He loves his cash cows and you'd be crazy to think he's prepared to sacrifice them on the alter of job creation and economic growth.

Consider some of his other cows out grazing in the taxation pasture: CPP and bracket creep.

Effective January 1st of this year, CPP premiums were increased retroactively back to 1997 and will increase every year until the year 2003. By hiking CPP premiums from 5.85% to 9.9%, the government will pick an extra $48 billion out of our pockets over the next six years.

But if we hearken back to 1995, the Finance Minister called payroll taxes like CPP and EI a "cancer on jobs." But in 1998, now that this malignant growth of taxes benefits the Finance Minister, well, it seems to be a different story.

And then there's the silent tax killer, bracket creep. Bracket creep refers to the non-indexation of tax brackets. Unless inflation runs above 3% annually, tax brackets don't move. And with the Bank of Canada's tight money policy, inflation has not surpassed 3% since 1992.

According to the House of Commons Finance Committee, bracket creep pushed 840,000 low-income Canadian families onto the tax rolls between 1985 and 1995. And a 1996 OECD study estimates that bracket creep pushed 18% of Canadians onto the tax rolls or into higher tax brackets.

For every percentage point of inflation that is not indexed, Ottawa collects an extra $700 million from taxpayers. KPMG estimates this has cost Canadians an extra $20 billion since 1988.

By the year 2000 tax revenues will have increased by $39 billion over the term of the Liberal government. But spending will only have been cut by $12 billion. So let there be no doubt about whom is responsible for balancing this country's books.

Most sensible economic observers would concur that the combined effects of these taxation measures are harmful to the economy and unnecessarily penalize Canadian workers and employers.

But the Liberals would have you believe that this is good government.

So there really is nothing like robbing taxpayers to pay Paul.