Mr. Speaker, with all this talk from the member opposite about shooting down bills I am proud to be part of a government that brought in gun control.
I am pleased to address private member's motion M-30. It asks the government to provide a child caregiver tax credit for those who look after preschool children, the disabled, the chronically ill or the aged in the home.
The motion implies that the Income Tax Act somehow discriminates against families that make the choice to provide care at home for the categories of people mentioned earlier. In support of his motion, the member for Mississauga South implied in his remarks that the government does not care about families as much as he does. I know that is not the case.
The motion appears to target the provision of the Income Tax Act which disallows the deduction of child care expenses by one income earner couples. The purpose of the child care expense deduction is to recognize for tax purposes the child care expenses that taxpayers must incur in order to earn income, to attend a recognized educational institution full time or to take an eligible vocational training course.
This deduction provides a way for the tax system to acknowledge that those taxpayers have a lesser capacity to pay taxes than others with an identical income who do not have child care expenses. This deduction ensures up to a limit that income used to pay for child care expenses is not taxable.
In order to assist parents who choose to remain at home to raise their preschool aged children, the federal government introduced a supplement to the child tax benefit. The supplement is a benefit to low and middle income families that have preschool aged children but do not have deductible child care expenses. This year the supplement is $213 for each child six years old or younger and is in addition to the regular benefit of $1,020 per child.
The federal government provides additional assistance to low income families through the working income supplement. This is a component of the child tax benefit. The working income supplement directs assistance to low income families with children by providing an additional annual non-taxable benefit of up to $500. It supplements the employment earnings of families with net incomes below $25,921.
As indicated in the budget presented to the House of Commons on March 6, assistance to low income families will be enriched through a two step doubling of the working income supplement. The maximum annual benefit will be increased from $500 to $750 in July 1997 and to $1,000 in July 1998.
Recall for a moment that the motion suggests tax assistance should be made available to families that provide in home care for elderly relatives or relatives with disabilities. This already happens. Tax assistance for people with disabilities and for families caring for elderly or disabled relatives at home is provided by a number of existing tax measures.
For example, significant benefits are provided to those with a severe and prolonged mental or physical impairment through the disability tax credit. This credit reduces the federal tax of claimants by about $720 and is equivalent to an exemption of $4,233 for those in the 17 per cent tax bracket.
Where the disabled individual has little or no income, the unused amount of the credit may be claimed by a supporting relative. The ability to transfer the disability tax credit recognizes that people with disabilities and low incomes are often supported and cared for by family members.
I will focus on another provision of the act to further indicate things the act already provides for the categories of people mentioned by the hon. member in support of this motion. The medical expense tax credit is another such provision. It provides tax relief to those with extraordinary medical expenses by providing a tax credit for medical expenses in excess of a certain percentage of a taxpayer's net income.
The medical expense tax credit reduces the federal tax of a claimant by 17 per cent of qualifying unreimbursed expenses that exceed 3 per cent of net income or up to $1,614.
Among the many expenses that qualify for this credit is up to $5,000 in respite or part time attendant care expenses. This is specifically intended to assist families caring for elderly or disabled relatives at home. Tax assistance is provided for part time or temporary attendant care. Families caring for elderly relatives or
relatives with disabilities may also benefit from the ability to claim unused amounts of the credit.
Individuals supporting relatives with a disability may also claim the infirm dependant credit. This credit was significantly enriched in the budget presented to the House on March 6, 1996.
According to the income of the dependant, this credit reduces the federal tax of a supporting relative by up to $400 and is equivalent to a deduction of as much as $2,352 for those with incomes in the 17 per cent tax bracket.
Through all of these measures, the federal tax system provides a significant amount of tax assistance to families that decide to provide care in the home for preschool aged children, the disabled and the elderly.
I have given the House this evening a great deal of information about various programs which are already contained in the Income Tax Act. An hon. member opposite asked about cost. Let me state for the record that the programs I have outlined already provide $1.4 billion in support to families that decide to provide care in the home for preschool aged children, the disabled and the elderly. These are substantial amounts of money available to families that support the disabled and the elderly. One of the problems with the hon. member's motion is that we do not know what it would cost.
I urge the House to withhold support for private member's Motion No. 30.