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If Steven Del Duca is elected Premier of Ontario, you’ll save $1.19 the next time you buy a take-out roast chicken combo from your local grocery store. The day after the Ford government’s budget was released, all major party leaders campaigned for your vote in the June 2 election.
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Del Duca stopped at a north Toronto grocery store to announce the Liberals’ promise to reduce the HST on prepared meals under $20. Currently, the HST applies to any meal priced over $4.
“It’s going to make life a lot more affordable,” Del Duca said. “Families need real relief.”
The Liberal Party estimates that reducing this tax will cost the province about $500 million in lost revenue. To pay for this, Del Duca takes a page from the NDP, or maybe Kathleen Wynne’s playbook, and promises to tax the rich.
Liberals promise to add an additional 1% in corporate income tax for companies making more than $1 billion in profits and an additional 2% in personal income tax for people earning more than $500,000 per year.
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Soaking the rich was once the domain of the NDP, but under the former Liberal government, taxes for high earners were repeatedly raised. If that were the solution to Ontario’s spending problems, we wouldn’t have a deficit now, but as Del Duca knows, there aren’t enough wealthy people in Ontario to tax our way to prosperity.
I’m not going to dismiss the idea of a takeout tax cut, but Del Duca’s overall tax plan is starting to look bonkers.
The 1% rise on companies earning more than $1 billion is pretty much aimed at banks and insurance companies. These companies are already facing a 1.5% surtax from the Liberal-NDP coalition at the federal level.
This tax hike, plus a one-time 15% tax. 100% on these same companies, will do two things that will not help the people or the province of Ontario.
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First, bank and insurance company stocks make up a large portion of Canadians’ retirement savings. These shares are held by pension plans, by Canadian individuals and in mutual funds that make up the average Canadian RRSP. Taxing these companies so many times will only hurt retirees and those saving for retirement.
Second, these companies are major employers and the fact that the provincial and federal governments impose multiple taxes on them tells them that they should move jobs and operations elsewhere. Don’t think it can’t happen. Tim Hortons has already been reorganized as a Delaware-based company due to high taxes.
Del Duca’s announcement on Friday is reckless by any measure. The problem is that most people just look at what’s in there for them.
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Since most Ontario voters don’t earn huge sums of money, they don’t think they’ll be affected by the tax hikes, but they can all relate to the tax cut on ready meals.
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It’s the 2022 Ontario election, folks. Promises of $120 off your Ford license plate sticker or $1.19 off that chicken dinner from Del Duca. Small political bribes that make you wonder what your vote is worth.
What we need is a real plan to get Ontario back on track economically as we leave the pandemic behind us and what Del Duca has offered so far just isn’t. .