• Urges government to set ambitious tax relief schedule

TORONTO: The Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF) Ontario Director John Williamson met with Ontario Finance Minster Janet Ecker today to present the CTF's Throne Speech proposals.

"The upcoming Throne Speech represents a golden opportunity for the Ontario government to outline its legislative priorities. Given that this is an election year, taxpayers want the government to spell out a new tax relief plan," said Williamson. "To ensure economic growth, it is important to build on the positive tax relief measures outlined in the recent budget, namely raising the personal income surtax threshold and boosting the education tax credit." The CTF is pressing the Ontario government to:
 

• Outline a new four-year tax relief schedule by raising the Basic Personal Exemption from $7,756 to $15,000. Adopting this schedule would be fair to all taxpayers by providing tax relief across all income brackets. Moreover, it would remove nearly 745,000 taxpayers, mostly minimum wage workers, from the provincial income tax rolls.
   
• Continue to focus attention on the province's high marginal tax rates and reduce them by eliminating the 20% surtax and establishing a schedule to phase out the second 36% rate. These surtaxes allow Ontario to claim it has three low tax brackets (6.05%, 9.15% & 11.16%) and distort the tax picture by making it difficult for taxpayers to know the real tax bite. In fact, these surtaxes raise Ontario's third rate to 17.41% - a far cry from the posted 11.16% rate.
   
• Establish a debt re-payment schedule. If lawmakers need an example of why debt undermines prosperity, they need only consider this: If there was no provincial debt and no interest to pay, the provincial income tax could be cut by 44% - without a corresponding reduction in programme spending. Alternatively, the health care budget could be increased by 31% - without a tax increase. Debt means higher taxes and fewer spending options.
   
• Re-commit to privatization to promote competition, entrepreneurship, and excellence in service delivery. As Enterprise Minister Jim Flaherty recently stated, "If the service is offered in the Yellow Pages, government shouldn't be in the business."
   
• Revamp the property tax assessment system. The government should cap property assessments and implement an alternative to the Current Value Assessment scheme, to one that focuses on service consumption and tax fairness, rather than property prices.