Madam Speaker, I listened intently to the member for Saanich—Gulf Islands. Once again the Canadian Alliance Party is back on its kick of a flat tax. Everyone in the Canadian Alliance dream world believes that everyone will get a tax break: from the poorest to the richest everyone will benefit from a flat tax. Most of us know this is not possible. I do not think we can fool the Canadian people.
When we start looking at the concept of a flat tax, the reality is that any of the so-called people who support that philosophy must find other ways of reducing revenue to make it work. Most of us would understand that if we are collecting x numbers of dollars in revenue and personal income taxes today, in order to impose a flat tax there has to be a shift between taxpayers from poor people to the wealthy. In other words, wealthier people would be paying significantly less tax and poor people would be paying more. That is the way it has to happen. There is no other way for it to be effective.
Canadian Alliance members would have us not understand that they would also gut a lot of other programs. We heard the member allude to private health care, the CBC and other things they would simply gut. That is how it works. They would gut government programs that people are now receiving. Undoubtedly some the people in the low tax range who would benefit in his wonderful dream world are the people who would miss the services.
Why do members of the Canadian Alliance not just come clean with people and tell the truth? A flat tax will be a shift in taxes away from the wealthy to the middle income earners. The only way to give everyone a tax break in a magical world is to gut government programs. Why does the member not just admit that?