Thank you very much.
I thank all of you.
With the greatest respect, I would like to correct what Ms. Raitt said. She mentioned that the tax cut would give the average Canadian 90¢ a day. That is not quite accurate. The average Canadian will not benefit from a tax cut, since we are talking about Canadians who earn $45,000 or more. The average is well below that, which was in fact mentioned by Mr. Zorn in his presentation. So when we talk about 90¢ a day, that does not apply to the average Canadian, but to Canadians who have higher incomes.
Mr. Zorn, I really liked your presentation and your report on Bill C-2.
My questions will be addressed to Mr. Zorn, Ms. St-Hilaire and Mr. Veall, if I have the opportunity.
You will have looked at the report of the Parliamentary Budget Officer on the impact of the tax cut and on an alternative measure which would have been to reduce the first tax bracket by one percentage point. Rather than reducing the second one from 22% to 20.5%, we could have reduced the first from 15% to 14%. Of course, this is a hypothetical measure, since the government decided not to take that route.
I would nevertheless like to hear your opinion, Mr. Zorn. According to your knowledge of the group of experts and the methodology, how would such a tax reduction have affected inequalities overall?