Madam Speaker, it is really sad. If we stop to think about it, this is incredibly sad. I used the quotation from Alexis de Tocqueville. One of the words is “tyranny”. We can use these tax rules to tyrannize our population, our citizens.
The member has obviously brought forward an example that all of us have encountered as members of parliament. People say “If I did this or if I did that, if I got divorced instead of staying together with my wife or my husband, I would actually gain in the tax code”. If we in this place cannot arrange for a tax code to be neutral on those decisions, then we are not doing our jobs here.
I would like to see the government resign over this and call an election. I know that might hit the news tonight but it is so serious and that is what should happen. We should have an opportunity as Canadian citizens to say to our government, “You do not have the right to put that kind of minute rule into the tax code that will affect that very important decision”. We are living in an age when so many decisions are made based on tax rules.
I remember not long ago I went to a one day seminar on retirement planning. I came out shaking my head. About 85% or 90% of the time was spent on how to avoid and defer taxes. Only about 10% was spent on how to make wise decisions and how to set up plans, what is the best vehicle to provide for a retirement.
Of course, I am interested in this because having opted out of the MP pension plan I am looking after myself and my wife. There again, I cannot use the RRSP deduction for my wife who is dependent on me. We made that choice. She does not directly earn my income. She definitely shares in the work of earning the money we have as a family but I cannot use it. If we were to make another decision on how we run our lifestyle, then this would be available. The tax code ought to stay out of my life.