Mr. Speaker, if the member would broaden his thinking a bit I think he would understand the issue better.
A family of four earning with $30,000 of taxable income pays 19.26% of income tax. What he has also failed to recognized is that family of four is also eligible to receive non-taxable benefits such as the GST credit, property and sales tax credits, the child tax benefit, the national child benefit and other things.
If he would take all those things into account I think he would see very clearly that for low income people who get non-taxable benefits, if he incorporated those in, the tax burden on a family of four making $30,000 is less than 10%. I would be happy to sit down with the member and work out the issues.
If we were to raise the non-refundable tax credit to which many refer as the first $6,500 tax exemption, it would mean that more Canadians would be able to earn income and not be taxed. The member also has to remember that people with means, people with high family incomes who work casually and have some part time or on the side activities, can benefit by increasing that exemption. We cannot target those in need by raising the lowest level at which they start to be taxed. We have to balance the need to target those benefits.
As the member may well know changes in the Tax Act take place very seldom and very slowly, but the philosophy behind it is that it is not just poor people who make $6,500 a year. It is people who have some investment income because they split income with a spouse who is not working. There are other situations where high income working families have casual income they transfer to other family members and on which they do not pay taxes in terms of a family situation.
Maybe the point is not to raise it on an across the board basis so that more Canadians get an increase, which is a very expensive proposition. Why do we not simply look for ways to target tax benefits to those in most need. I believe that is what the member has in mind.