The Harper Conservatives, with total support from the Dion Liberals, are giving away $50 billion in tax cuts to big corporations. Now, this magnificent giveaway might thrill their friends sitting around the boardroom tables -- but, in these uncertain times, who is looking out for the concerns of those sitting around Canada's kitchen tables? What about childcare? Catastrophic drug costs? Care for seniors? Hiring more doctors and nurses? Skyrocketing tuition fees?
Jack Layton and the NDP promise to cancel the Conservative-Liberal tax cuts for corporations. Canada's corporate tax levels have already been reduced in recent years. Canada's corporate tax levels are already highly competitive; they're lower than China, Brazil, India, Korea, the United States, France, and Japan! And besides, tax cuts -- as a one-size-fits-all approach -- are not a guaranteed method of stimulating the economy. Sometimes corporations just take the money and run. There are other strategies.
To (un)appreciate this wrong-headed Conservative-Liberal corporate giveaway, one needs to look at comparative figures. That's what I'm providing, here. What follows is a chart detailing Canada's expenditures (and surplus) for the one-year fiscal period ending in 2008. How does our federal government spend its money? Instead of giving away $50 billion to corporations, couldn't we use that money to improve our society and to invest in our economy's productive capacity? Couldn't we, the people, give OURSELVES a raise -- instead of the big corporations? YES WE CAN.
Just look at the numbers, and then imagine: more for health care, industrial development, education, culture, the environment, research, and housing. For $50 billion, we could double investments in all of those areas -- for drug coverage, green jobs, strategic business development, lower tuition fees, arts funding, environmental protection, and helping the homeless out of the cold. And we'd still have money remaining in Canada's surplus. We'd also save billions more by bringing our troops home from the disastrous and deadly war in Afghanistan.
We've been told for years and years and years -- by the same-old Liberals and the same-old Conservatives: "Sorry. It can't be done." And yet, they can find $50 billion to give away to their friends on Bay Street. We, the people, deserve better. It's our country and it's our government. We've worked hard. We've sacrificed. We've waited for the "trickle down." But we're feeling squeezed -- and the rich just keep getting richer (a well-established empirical fact and trend). We're one of the richest countries in the world. It's time to share some of that wealth, to bring relief to working people and the middle class, and to make poverty history.
Only Jack Layton and the NDP will deliver. The choice is clear: $50 billion more for the corporations, or $50 billion to improve our society and to ease the burdens of our everyday lives. If you want the same-old, same-old, and if you want to give more money to corporations, then vote Conservative or Liberal. But if you're sick of the broken promises, and if you're sick of waiting for all that wealth to magically "trickle down," then WAIT NO MORE! Elect Jack Layton as Prime Minister!
The NDP plan is prudent, it's fiscally responsible, and it's based upon cautious economic estimates. So, what ultimately separates it from the plans of the Conservatives and the Liberals? Simple. Either we invest the $50 billion in ourselves -- in Canada -- or we just hand it over to the big corporations so they can enjoy record-breaking profits AGAIN.
As I see it, the choice is a no-brainer. It's time to try something new. Strong New Democrats for Canada!
RELATED NEWS STORY: http://www.canada.com/otta
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