Madam Speaker, the tax system is indeed far from helping low income families, and we know full well that those most favoured by the budget are those earning $250,000 or more, whose taxes will be cut by over $3,000. In contrast, after sending in his tax return, the employee who made $20,000 this year will only get a $57 tax cut. That is what we deplored. This is a budget for the rich, not for low-income earners.
The hon. member is right. In our remarks on the tax tables, we pointed out that it will not result in a tax saving of hundreds of dollars for anyone who earns $20,000 a year.
Earlier, I told the hon. member of the Liberal Party that he was making a short-sighted comment on the budget as a whole and that the tax deductions provided for in the budget for people who earn $25,000, $30,000 or $40,000 are minimal.
Do you think that someone earning more than $250,000 and getting more than $3,000 back will put that money back into the economy? No, they are going to invest it.
Low-income earners would not use hundreds of dollars in tax savings to make investments; they would put the money back into the economy because these people often cannot afford basic commodities.
So, this budget favours the privileged and it could have been a little more sensitive to low-income earners.