Mr. Speaker, I find it passing strange that the member for Calgary Southeast finds a whole range of issues with the 1998 budget but fails to take into account that it was the first balanced budget since 1969-70, the first time the government had balanced the budget in many years.
It was the beginning of tax relief for Canadians. It was $7 billion of tax relief for Canadians which was also extended in the 1999 budget, amounting to a total of $16.5 billion in tax relief for Canadians.
The member for Calgary Southeast spoke about simplifying the Income Tax Act. I am sure all Canadians want to simplify the Income Tax Act, but the hon. member failed to indicate how he would simplify the Income Tax Act. I have a suspicion that the way to simplify the act in his mind is the Alberta Reform solution, the flat tax solution. A flat tax does not really comply with the progressivity of the Canadian Income Tax Act.
Yes, it simplify things. It simplifies things very much, but it means that the tax is not progressive. Higher income Canadians now pay more income tax in percentage terms than lower income Canadians. This seems to be an equitable way to arrange things. A person who makes more income pays more income tax, not only in absolute terms but in percentage terms. That is called a progressive tax system.
When we go to this simplified tax, yes, it would clean up a lot of messy details in the Income Tax Act, but I am wondering what it does to equity. How fair is it when we move to a tax system like that?
Another feature of the 1998 budget which the member conveniently forgot to mention was the Canadian opportunities strategy. It provides a number of initiatives that give Canadians greater access to the knowledge and skills needed as we move into the next century.
We also began the process of paying down the debt which had not been done for many years.
The member opposite gets into a lot of the details of the Income Tax Act but he fails to acknowledge the very positive aspects of the 1998 budget.
There is one aspect I would like to raise, and perhaps the member could comment on it. He talks about the 20% foreign limit for RRSPs. I think he is implying that it should be 25% or 30%. I am wondering why the Canadian taxpaying public should be subsidizing Canadians who want to invest more outside Canada. Should we not be saying that if Canadians want to diversify their portfolio and have 30% of their portfolio outside Canada, that is fine, but why should the tax system subsidize that?