Madam Speaker, Bill C-72 deals with the 1998 budget and that is what we are talking about. We are talking about the whole issue and what should have been in this budget. We are talking about what should have been in Bill C-72 to fix the budget to make it right. Instead we are being fed all this garbage. I think it is time that we looked at the way the government does these things.
The Income Tax Act is pages and pages of convoluted words that only add to the distress of Canadian taxpayers. There are several ways to reduce taxes but all of them require the use of professionals. Gone are the days when ordinary taxpayers making $12,000 or $15,000 a year could do their own tax forms. Canadians have to hire professionals. They know that this government will screw them out of another couple of thousand dollars unless they have a paid professional. Whether Canadians pay the government or the professionals, their money is being stolen from them. It is a shame and the government ought to be ashamed of itself.
What does Bill C-72 say about health care? It is what it does not say. It is a fact that budget after budget is a shell game on how we are going to communicate. We have a government that talks about an education budget. All the government does is it arranges for students to have a maximum amount of debt. The government gives them no real help. It taxes them. Sure the government gives a little deal with a tax break on the interest on student loans. Thank you very much but that has to be the correct kind of loan. Bank loans are not covered. Is that not shameful.
Some students cannot get enough money from their student loans to go to school, especially mature students with families. They do not have enough money from the basic student loan to attend school. They have to get a bank loan. Can they deduct that interest? No. They pay taxes and interest on the money that is left after the tax bill.
That is how the government operates. It takes money over and over again from those who are unable to pay a great deal because of their low income levels. Not to mention the fact that our dollar has slid down to almost zero because of the tax and grab scheme of the federal government. I think it is atrocious.
We have tax changes that are supposed to increase the non-refundable personal tax credit for the individual surtax. Once again the spin doctors and the communicators announce a number, $500.