Mr. Speaker, the hon. member for Port Moody-Coquitlam is asking the members of this House to support motion M-148 which reads as follows: "That, in the opinion of this House, the government should recognize the onerous burden of taxation upon the Canadian family, and the pressures that such taxation places upon the family, and that this government take immediate measures to provide the family with tax relief, including balancing the federal budget".
This motion has two important components: family income and balancing the federal budget. These two components can, in certain cases, be at odds. In fact, one of the ways of balancing the federal budget could well be to increase the tax burden on families. The
other possible ways of balancing the federal budget would be to increase the tax burden on businesses, or to cut spending.
For the Bloc Quebecois, the only real way to reduce the tax burden on individuals, in addition to balancing the budget without cutting social programs, is to find new sources of revenue. In all their interventions in this House for over two years, Bloc MPs have always made it clear that these new sources of revenue, this new money in the federal coffers, called for an immediate, in-depth review of business taxation.
Reformers, true to their own brand of logic, as always, are again suggesting spending cuts as the sole means of balancing the budget. We must remember, however, that federal spending consists primarily of transfers to individuals and to provinces, the latter amounts going a long way towards paying for the provinces' social programs. Spending cuts hit individual taxpayers the hardest and do not produce the desired results. We are therefore opposed to balancing the budget solely through cutbacks in federal spending, the approach now being taken by the federal government.
The Reform motion emphasizes the family aspect of taxation. Here, Reformers are making the same mistake as the Liberals, who are now basing the new seniors benefit on the family income of couples. When the family income has been established, the government will divide the amount of the monthly benefit into two equal parts. Is this the Liberals' way of lightening the tax burden on families? By limiting their suggestions to spending cuts, Reformers are on the wrong track. By targeting family income as the basis for government assistance to seniors, the Liberals are also on the wrong track.
We in the Bloc Quebecois want the budget balanced, but not at the expense of families and seniors.
The Bloc Quebecois is totally opposed to the government initiative to base old age pensions on family income. Taxation reform must address individual or business revenue, not family income.
For cohesiveness, the Reform motion would require a business tax reform. Successfully balancing the budget requires business tax reform rather than merely tightening up on expenditures, which will impact upon the transfer payments to individuals and to the provinces.
Given the size of transfer payments to individuals and provinces, major cuts in expenditures will, of necessity, impact upon those same individuals and families.
Essentially, these transfer payments comprise the old age pension, the guaranteed income supplement, spouse's allowance, unemployment insurance benefits, and the taxation agreements, health insurance and health care, the Canada assistance plan, education support, family allowances and the child tax credits, along with a variety of other transfer payments.
It can be seen that most of these are aimed at young people, seniors and low income families. Interfering with them would place the incomes of the least advantaged members of our society at risk. Balancing the budget cannot, therefore, go the route of cutting transfer payments, at least not in our opinion.
Between 1990 and 1995, these transfer payments accounted for between 67 per cent and 71 per cent of federal program expenditures. Their importance is therefore obvious, when we realize that the only other equally large government expenditure besides program expenditures is servicing the debt, which remains untouched. Other revenues must therefore be found.
On the other hand, individuals are already paying more than their share of taxes. Between 1990 and 1995, personal income taxes accounted for between 78 per cent and 87 per cent of federal tax revenues, while corporate taxes for that same period accounted for between 11 and 20 per cent.
In order to lighten the tax burden on families and balance the budget at the same time, we must look at the business tax aspect before making heavy cuts to the assistance available to individuals, which would only add to the pressure already being felt by our families.
We know what a heavy burden families have to bear, and we know that the only way to balance the budget without increasing the burden of individual taxpayers or making drastic cuts in social programs, as the Liberal government is doing, is to review the corporate tax system to collect the government's missing revenues from those who do not pay their fair share.
On March 6, in the budget speech, the finance minister announced the creation of a committee to review the tax system. Some members on this committee are experts in tax evasion: one is a representative of Price Waterhouse, a firm with several branches in countries considered as tax havens, such as the Bahamas, the Caiman Islands, and Switzerland; and one is a representative of Ernst & Young which is also a great user of tax havens.
For the past two years, the Bloc Quebecois has been demanding a true reform of business taxation, the only way to lighten the tax burden on Canadian and Quebec families while making it possible to balance the budget.
The business taxation review process must be public. Input from opposition members must be allowed to make the process as open and transparent as possible.
The government is promising there will be public consultation once the experts issue their report; in other words, people will have their say once the decisions are already made. Business taxation must be streamlined and businesses must be made to pay all the taxes they are exempt from. In 1994, tax expenditures on Canadian corporations amounted to $9 billion.
Before the budget, the government was saying it wanted to get businesses involved; the Prime Minister challenged them to create jobs. This rallying theme seems to have disappeared somewhere in between the throne speech and the budget. Businesses are yet to be put to task.
I fear that the Liberal government is once again going to ignore the necessary contribution of businesses to the tax system of this country, which badly needs it both to balance its budget and to lighten the tax burden on families.
Up to now, the only fiscal effort on the part of some corporations has been to contribute to the Liberal coffers; as we know, six of the eight members of the business taxation review committee come from businesses which contributed to the Liberal Party's coffers to the tune of $80,000 in 1994.