Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
We are talking about a lot of figures today and I know that it is probably not easy. Nevertheless, this is an important issue which involves the perception Canadians have of the tax system, especially as regards what has been presented as a tax reduction for the middle class.
I have been a bit hard with my questions and I apologize for that. This debate is necessary in my opinion and we had not yet had it. No matter whether they are in Toronto, Montreal, Rimouski or Saskatoon, those whose annual income falls between $35,000 and $45,000 are in my opinion members of the middle class. It would be difficult to claim otherwise.
According to the Parliamentary Budget Officer, people whose income constitutes 40% to 50% of income in Canada as a whole benefit from an average reduction of $21, whereas those whose income is in the highest 80% to 90% of incomes will benefit from an average reduction of $287. In my opinion, that is a problem. You are granting a tax reduction which is of more benefit to those with the highest 20% to 30% of incomes. In fact, the high-income group that makes up 20% of the Canadian population is going to enjoy the maximum reduction, as compared to the top 1% group.
If we had gone from 15% to 14%, can you confirm that approximately 80%—my figures indicate that it is in fact 83%—of taxpayers would have benefited from a reduction?