Mr. Speaker, I want to comment on a couple of issues that have come up in this debate.
The first one has to do with personal income taxes. Some members have suggested that there have been increases in taxes and that Canadians are paying more taxes.
I looked back from 1993 and found that personal income tax revenue to the Government of Canada was $51.4 billion. In the current year ended March 31, 1999, personal income tax revenue will rise to $73.7 billion. Next year it is expected that it will further rise another $1.3 billion to $75 billion.
There is no question that personal income tax revenue is increasing in Canada, but since the time that the government took office in 1993, there are 1.5 million more employed Canadians paying income tax. There have been no increases in personal income tax rates. There have been no increases in personal taxes. In fact, there have been decreases and I will mention a couple.
The child care expense deduction was increased from $5,000 to $7,000. It is a direct savings for families with children. The federal 3% surtax has been totally eliminated for all Canadians. It is a savings in taxes to Canadians.
The basic amount, the non-refundable tax credit, has been increased by $675 for all Canadians, a significant increase. It deals directly with the issue of bracket creep and indeed will cover any impact of bracket creep for an additional three years. If the member would like to know what bracket creep is, it is basically inflate that exemption portion.
The basic exemption for a Canadian is about $6,500. Inflation in Canada last year was at a rate of 1%. One per cent of $6,500 is $65. At the tax credit rate it means the member is talking about an impact of $16. That is not a significant amount. It is not the number the members are saying.
In addition there are non-taxable benefits that Canadians have received. The $1.7 billion invested in the Canadian child tax benefit is directly related to low income Canadians who need help with their children. Important changes were also made to things like RESPs. A government grant of up to $400 per year, per child was available to invest in the education of our children. These are very important.
The employment insurance premiums were reduced. They were going up to $3.30. Today they are $2.70. It was a $2.8 billion decrease in employment insurance revenue to the government because of the reduction in those rates to Canadians.
The fact remains that 600,000 Canadians no longer pay tax as a result of the tax deductions delivered by the Government of Canada, by the Liberal Party of Canada.
In addition, there is program spending on matters such as prenatal nutrition to deal with fetal alcohol syndrome and fetal alcohol effects, programs such as CAPC that help children who are at risk.
I am very proud of the government's budget. I am very proud of the benefits and the programs it has bought, particularly for families with children. I look forward to the debate tomorrow when this comes up because I think Canadians will understand that the Liberal Government of Canada has children in mind first.