Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to speak tonight to the private members' Motion No. 148 which calls for the House to recognize the heavy burden of taxation placed upon Canadian families.
This motion also calls for immediate action to be taken to provide the Canadian family with tax relief, taking into consideration the continuous reduction and balancing of the federal budget debt.
In my opinion this motion is not very clear. It does not propose specific measures. However, the motion does call for tax relief for families and a move to a balanced federal budget, a very commendable goal.
However, the government should not support this motion. The Liberal government, in its March 6 budget, has taken several steps and measures to address the serious concerns that must have prompted this private members' motion.
We have seen that the budget does not increase taxes on the family. With serious and well balanced measures, the federal budget continues to provide expenditure restraint that will eventually lead to a balanced budget. This in turn will bring about a reduction in the broad based taxes paid by families.
The budget has shown that the Liberal government cares about families and the welfare of children. This can be seen, for example, through measures such as the doubling of the working income tax supplement. The child tax benefit will increase to its maximum level from $500 to $1,000.
These are measures that show how much our government cares for families in our society. By restoring a climate of financial health, we are paving the way for more dynamic job creation in our economy.
It is well known that by lowering the deficit we will obtain lower interest rates. This in turn will create growth and investment which will lead to more jobs and a flourishing economy.
We know that the Canadian tax system is effective and fair. According to a recent survey taken by the OECD, Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, we rank 14th in the world. This means that there are 13 industrialized countries where the tax burden is much higher than that of Canada. Our country enjoys one of the highest standards of living of all the industrialized countries in the world.
We have learned that Canada has the highest index of human development. Of 173 countries around the world, Canada ranked first in terms of longevity, average income, spending for education and health care. This is according to the human rights development report prepared and published every year by the United Nations.
This means that in Canada our tax dollars are well spent. We are all receiving an exceptionally high value for the taxes we pay. With the new budget, the government has proven that it is meeting the fiscal targets it set.
After a lower than projected deficit last year, the government is now on track to meet or better the target of $32.7 billion in 1995-96 and 3 per cent of the GDP in 1996-97.
The budget also announced $1.9 billion in spending cuts for 1998-99. This, together with actions introduced in the last two budgets, will ensure that the deficit will continue to decline for years to come.
This motion asks for the relief of pressures that taxation places on Canadian families. The budget has already done this. Let us look at the support for families.
The Liberal government is moving ahead with improvements to the child support system in Canada. This strategy announced with the budget includes guidelines for setting child support, fairer taxation of support payments, better enforcement, and increased income supplements for working families.
The current system places the tax burden on the custodial parent and provides a deduction for the non-custodial parent. Under the new child support strategy, custodial parents will no longer pay income tax on child support payments and non-custodial parents will no longer claim a tax deduction.
These new tax rules will apply to agreements and court orders made on or after May 1, 1997. They will not apply to existing orders unless the orders are varied by the courts or unless the parties have agreed to the changes. This means children will benefit from a fairer and consistent child support which will be paid in full and on time. In addition to these measures, the parents
will be allowed to file a joint election with Revenue Canada to apply the new tax treatment.
Moreover the current age limit of 14 years for children with respect to whom the child care deduction may be claimed does not recognize the need of many parents, especially the single ones, who work at jobs which require them to be away from home at night. Accordingly, our government proposes to raise the age limit for eligible children to 16 years. This measure will complement the other changes made to the child care expense deduction and it will without any doubt assist single parents and support learning.
The increased assistance is important to the many Canadians who are caring for and supporting adult children and other relatives who have moderate to severe medical conditions. I am aware of many constituents in Niagara Falls and Niagara-on-the-Lake who are providing home care for invalid members of their families. These families will find relief in the government proposal to increase the value of the infirm dependant credit from $270 to $400 and to raise the dependant net income threshold for the phase out of benefits from $2,690 to $4,903.
The measures proposed in the budget promote fairness: fairness to the Canadian taxpayer who complies with his obligations under the Income Tax Act; fairness that will ensure everyone shoulders their fair share of the tax burden. These are reasons enough for me to vote against this motion.