Mr. Speaker, I was very interested in the member's comments about people in the lower income area. He would be aware that this government in its wisdom chooses to tax at a very high rate, for example, a family of four earning $30,000 a year. Those people are still paying at least $4,000 a year in federal taxes. He should know that under the Reform proposal we would fundamentally eliminate those taxes at that level.
Why does the member not understand the simple mathematics in this case? If the government is to continue to extract these kinds of taxes from people at the low end and then turn around and give them back meagre pittances, meagre portions, meagre initiatives, why does he not understand that dollars left in the hands of those people, where those people at the low end of the scale get to make the decisions for their family, are far more productive than taking those dollars away and in turn turning around and giving them back?
The reality is that since the Liberals came to power in 1993 they have taxed back 155% of all wage increases. It has not paid to have a wage increase under the Liberals. Why does he not recommend to his finance minister to leave the money in the hands of the people who need the money rather than extracting it from them?