Madam Speaker, we as parliamentarians must do what is best for our country. The best thing for our country would be to do what is best for our children and our families. What is the best thing for our children? To allow them to have the right to have loving parents stay at home to take care of them without being penalized by the state for doing so. Are they being penalized? Yes. I want hon. members to look at the facts.
Roughly 82% of Canadians want the tax code changed; this according to the C. D. Howe Institute's latest report:
Current Canadian tax policy affords no universal recognition of children. In effect, it treats children in middle- or high-income families like consumer spending, as if parents had no legal or moral obligation to spend money on their care. This treatment is indefensible.
That is a quotation from the C. D. Howe Institute's November 1998 report.
They go on to say that federal tax, pre-1998 budget, paid by one earner families of four earning $60,000 was $10,319. That was the tax paid by a family of four. Federal tax, post-1999, for this same family was $9,589. The federal tax, pre-1998 budget, paid by two earner families of four earning $60,000 was $6,410 and after the 1999 budget this family paid $5,790.
Therefore, the C. D. Howe Institute points out that the one earner family paid 60.98% more in federal taxes than the two earner family before the 1998 budget. After budget '99, this difference jumped to 65.6%. With this latest budget the discriminatory tax situation increases 5%.
The C. D. Howe Institute goes on to say that at $45,000 these numbers jump even higher. At that rate the discrimination is 111% and after the 1999 budget it jumps to a difference of 136%.
These are numbers from an external source. These are not numbers that we have put together. They clearly indicate how discriminatory this Liberal Party has been against parents who choose to have one parent stay at home.
They go on to say that federal tax, pre-1998 budget, paid by one earner families of four with a total income of $50,000 was $7,116. The federal tax for this family after the 1999 budget was $6,464. Also, before the 1998 budget the federal tax paid by two earner families of four earning an income of $50,000 was $3,716. After the 1999 budget this family paid $3,160. So a one earner family paid $3,400 more or 91.5% more in federal taxes than a two earner family before the 1998 budget. After the 1999 budget this difference rose to $3,304, for an increase of 104%.
That is what this debate is about today. These are the facts. If hon. members go out into society they will find that one of the greatest irritants parents have is our present discriminatory tax policy.
We need to allow parents to have the choice without being penalized. Do not penalize single income households. I have heard all kinds of rhetoric from the other side where members are trying to excuse themselves because they have been whipped into voting against this motion. It is a motion that is supported by the vast majority of Canadians. Allow them to make a choice. Allow parents to stay at home to care for their children without having to pay a penalty.
The government has had the opportunity to change this discriminatory policy that favours dual income households and it has not yet done it after five years.
The first root of the problem is that the government wants to manipulate society. I ask myself: Why does it not do this? It wants to restrict people in their choices. Labelling stay at home parents as child care dropouts indicates how government members are thinking.
The second root of the problem is that taxes are much too high and the government does not want to reduce them. It is most reluctant to respond to the desire of Canadians to have their taxes reduced.
In fact taxes are so high that these taxes drive parents out of the home in order to pay the bills. In order to provide the food, shelter and clothing that are needed, parents today are forced to supplement their income by having both parents work out of the home. This limits parents in their desire to do what they feel is best for those they cherish most, their children.
According to the experts, this restriction on the parents' desire to directly care for their children has raised costs in four areas. Costs to society increase because parents are restricted in their choices. In their desire to spend time with their children, psychologists have told us that it is absolutely necessary that they be with their children, yet the social engineering of the Liberals has raised costs in four areas. These four areas are education, social costs, justice and health care costs.
If the Liberals allowed parents to exercise their choice freely without being manipulated by the tax system we could lower our level of taxation in this country. Why? Because education costs could be reduced. Health care costs could be reduced. Justice costs could be reduced. All of those social costs could be reduced. What would appear as maybe a loss of income to the government would actually have the opposite effect.
The accusation was thrown at us by the Liberals that we would like to remove paid child care as a tax deduction. We have never said that. We would not oppose a tax reduction for parents. But we do object to the fact that parents who stay at home to care for their children are not treated equally. The parent who stays at home is not allowed to reduce their taxes accordingly. The government does not give equal treatment to parents who choose to stay at home. That is the main point of this motion. That is what we are going to be voting on. We need to look at the intent of this motion. Many of the speakers on the opposite side have avoided the intent of this motion.
In conclusion, let me talk a little about the brain drain and how that is affecting families. Canada is one of the most highly taxed nations in the world. According to the Fraser Institute, the total tax rate runs at 49%. High taxation is driving our young people out of this country. A single person would have 38% disposable income in the United States. In Canada they only have 22%. That is a huge difference.
What effect does that have on the family? Grandparents who would like to see their grandchildren are unable to do that. Grandparents have an important role to play. This government makes it more difficult to have extended family relationships because our young people are forced to leave to go to the U.S. to find jobs.
Not only are we incurring huge costs educating young people, young people who could contribute to our quality of life and our economy, we are forcing them to leave the country. We are also harming extended family relationships. That is very serious.
If we thought through the tax policies of the government we would see how it has completely disregarded the pleas of Canadians for tax reduction and fairness in this area.