Mr. Speaker, this is the third time I have risen to speak about the budget announced by the federal government. Bill C-72 reflects what has been brought in by the budget. It deals with what I would call piecemeal tax relief for Canadians.
The government says it is giving a non-refundable tax credit for interest paid on student loans. I do not think any Canadian would have a problem with that. The government is proposing changes to the registered education savings plan. I do not think anyone would have much of a problem with that. This is a small step toward correcting the problem of high debt loads which students pay.
In my last speech to this House I talked about the problems facing students. We see the government again addressing this issue in a piecemeal way. The government is claiming credit by saying it is addressing the heavy tax burden from which Canadians are demanding relief.
The government estimated that it expects a $3 billion surplus in the budget. Most forecasters are now expecting that the 1998-99 balance could be anywhere between $7 billion and $12 billion. The government is not really looking at the money that is forecast and it does not have a proper plan to provide tax relief to Canadians.
My colleagues from the NDP and the Conservatives talked today about income tax reform to address all of the issues. They feel that tax credits should not be the driving force.
My concern is that we could have tax reform, but we do not want tax reform where, in the final analysis, the bottom line remains the same and the government gets more money from Canadians. There is no point in tax reform which transfers the burden from one group to another group. What Canadians are asking for is real tax relief.
Today in the Montreal Gazette there is an article with the heading “I do not pay my taxes joyfully”. This arose from the fact that Reverend Bill Phipps said we should pay our taxes joyfully. In the article the writer talks about how much tax he had to pay after he did his income tax return. His bottom line, after indirect taxes, service fees and all of the taxes that are taken from his pay cheque, came to 60%. Sixty per cent of our income is going toward taxes. I do not think there is any Canadian who would say that they would joyfully pay 60% of their income toward taxes when they feel there is no return from the federal government.
There was another news item in the paper today saying that when the premiers meet at their annual conference in Montreal, productivity and tax reduction will be at the top of the agenda.
We have heard the business community screaming about high taxes. Now we have the business community, the provinces and Canadians talking about high taxes. I do not know whether my colleagues on the other side, when they go back to their ridings, have constituents coming into their offices talking about high taxes, but they are coming into my office talking about high taxes. Students are talking about high taxes.
Today we have heard government members and the parliamentary secretary giving great facts and figures on how they are addressing this issue. However, nothing has happened in 1998 and 1999 with respect to tax relief. If we were to take their figures, in 1999-2000 the total tax relief will be around $55 million. That is a positive aspect for all Canadians. When we take it further, in the year 2000 we will have bracket creep, which the government does not wish to talk about. The bracket creep will increase and will take more money away from Canadians. They will be paying more taxes than they are now. Where is this tax relief they are talking about?
Then we add to that the CPP increase. No matter what we want to say, the mismanagement of the CPP has resulted in a negative balance and it is a tax that Canadians are paying.
While the government wants to say that it has been addressing the demand for tax relief, more and more Canadians are saying that it is not fair. There is no tax relief for them. There is just a manipulation of accounting procedures. My colleague just spoke about the accounting procedures that the government employed, which everyone is questioning, including the auditor general.
Where is the tax relief that the government talks about? I sat here this morning and heard the many points on tax relief that the government talked about. However, when we look at what is happening out there, tax relief is not there for Canadians. How long will Canadians wait before this government addresses the issue?
We hear from the finance minister that he would like to take a cautious approach. He is keeping money in the contingency fund. Now we see that the surplus will jump from $7 billion to $12 billion. What will the government do with the surplus?
The government likes to put forward the argument that if it gave tax relief the social services which Canadians dearly love, especially health care, would somehow face a crisis. I would say that health care is facing a crisis already because of the cuts the government implemented. Now it is putting money back, but it is only what it took away. What about expansion? Canadians are getting older and older. It is not sufficient to put back the money the government took away. The health care system is looking for more solutions and more money because more and more Canadians are getting older. That is why we have a health care crisis. When huge surpluses are being racked up by this government it is wrong to say that if tax relief is given somehow it will impact the health care system.
There are other areas where the government could cut waste. It has been identified many times in this House that the government could cut taxes and it would have no impact at all on many of the social services and health services we have in this country.
It is interesting that the federal government is the last one to address this issue. The provinces have already started to address the issue of tax cuts. They understand that the burden on the Canadian taxpayer is very heavy. The federal government is the only one that does not seem to realize or understand the feelings of Canadians.
Bill C-72, which the Liberals call a housekeeping bill, we would oppose. We oppose it not because there is no tax relief in it, because we understand that there is some small tax relief, but because it does not address general, overall tax relief for Canadians.