Mr. Speaker, the member made a number of statements in which she suggested that somehow taxes have been increased for Canadians.
I quickly looked back over the last two budgets and I saw an increase in the child care expense deduction which went from $5,000 to $7,000. I saw the total elimination of the 3% surtax. I saw the non-refundable tax credit increased by $675 for each and every taxpayer. I saw an investment of $1.7 billion in the national child benefit. There were no increases in tax rates. We introduced the RESP, government grants worth up to $400 a year for parents. There were EI reductions worth $2.8 billion in savings to Canadians.
If those are the facts, I would ask the member directly, could she explain exactly what tax increases she is talking about? If it is bracket creep, and if she wants to index the $6,542 personal exemption by inflation, which is 1% or a $65 increase in the bracket level, at the tax rate of the non-refundable tax credit that would mean $16 a year to a taxpayer. I therefore do not accept bracket creep as the explanation. I want to know the real explanation from the member.