I know she is going to sue me in a minute but if she would just let me continue to speak.
Before the member sues, just let me repeat again, there is nothing wrong or illegal with what the minister does. He is a business person. He looks at it and says “Let me see. If I register my vessel here in Canada I have to pay through the nose in taxes, registration fees, hidden taxes” and taxes below the water line no doubt. There are all kinds of taxes in Canada because the vessel is registered here. When he registers a vessel offshore, there is nothing wrong with that. I hope the member does not have an apoplexy on us here, Madam Speaker, but there is nothing wrong and I will say it again for her benefit.
What kind of message does that send to Canadians who are also looking for tax relief and do not have the advantage of an international company where they can parade some of their assets out of the country. What kind of a message does it send? It sends them the message that the finance minister knows the truth, that taxes in Canada are way too high.
The taxes here are a disincentive for investment. The taxes here do not create wealth. They suck the wealth out of the economy. The taxes here in Canada mean that the average family in British Columbia spends $28,000 or more just paying taxes to governments. How are they supposed to plan for their kids' education, put a little money aside for retirement and maybe if they are lucky have a holiday every decade or two?
How are they supposed to get investments going on their own to start a small business, an in home business, or to invest in mutual funds and take advantage of any of those things? They cannot because they are so busy paying taxes to all levels of government.
With this government the Hoover sound can be heard across the land from the minister opposite. There have been 37 tax increases since the Liberals took power. There were many more in the 35th Parliament that we did not even get into. Every single time the inflation rate goes up even a couple of per cent, does the government change the personal exemption amounts, the bracket creep? It just cuts right in and sucks a little more out. You can hear the slurping noise as the economy gets sucked dry and the initiative gets sucked dry and the entrepreneurs head south or east to anywhere where tax relief is possible. Is it any wonder that the finance minister does what he does. He does what he has to to get ahead.
I face this time and again in my own riding. My riding includes the Sumas border crossing which is one of the busier crossings in Canada. Between the United States and Canada there are billions of dollars of trade per day, not all through Sumas, but in total.
People bring a tale of woe to my office that goes something like this. They say “Listen. I was down in the United States and they gave me the following deal. All the other prices are much the same but you know their other taxes are much lower. I do not have to pay the sales tax. I do not have to pay all the hidden taxes along the way. It is cheaper to buy the same product down in Washington state even with the exchange rate as it is, than it is to buy it at my local store because the taxes in Canada are too high”.
What am I supposed to say to a young couple who is trying to get ahead, to feed their kids and do all that stuff? Do I say “Listen here young man, I expect you to pay through the nose. Forget looking after your family. Forget planning for your future. Forget about your children's education. Pay through the nose and pay it here in Canada because that is what makes Canada great”. Because I fear for my own safety, I do not say that. I say “Yes, is it not too bad that in Canada our taxes chase your money out of town and out of the country”.
I tell them to please shop Canadian if they can and all that good stuff. However that couple is struggling and when they come in with their hands held out, what do I say to them? I tell them that they are responsible for their family and they should do what they have to do. That is what the finance minister does when he looks after his business, which is in a blind trust, but it registers vessels offshore. This is not illegal and nothing is technically wrong with this.
Why is it happening? It is happening because taxes in Canada are too high. Registration fees are too high. Regulations are too onerous and too difficult. That is why those things happen.
The government across the way would be well advised to take a look around the world and see how we compare tax wise with the other developed countries. Our income tax rates are 50% higher than the G-7 average. Does that not strike a little bit of fear into the Liberals' little cold economic hearts? Does it not make them think that perhaps they could kill the goose that laid the golden egg if they just taxed it long enough?
Do the Liberals not understand the old parable of the little red hen? We keep beating that little red hen on the head with a tax booklet. The chain drags out for dozens of metres behind the poor person who is trying to get ahead, sucking their energy and distracting them. They finally ask themselves what the point is of even trying because they have all this weight dragging them down in the income tax system, the regulatory system and the bureaucracy that this government seems to promote. They finally realize they cannot cut the chains because the government keeps adding more books on the end of this ever loving thing. It becomes the chain from hell. It just goes on and on off into the distance taking the energy out of the system. They finally wish they too could go to the Bahamas, register there and get ahead.
That is why this amendment in not so nice a way tweaks the nose of the government to point out why this is a problem for Canadians. High taxes kill incentive, kill jobs and kill the future for not only people raising families now but for future generations to come. That is why this government would be well advised to listen up during today's debate, quit adding more taxes to the system and allow Canadians the opportunity to get ahead the way they should, which is without government help but without government hindrance.
I wish the government would listen up and support this amendment during the vote that we will have later this evening.