Mr. Speaker, I do not think there is any question as to the reason why the government does that. It has to keep raking in money because it keeps giving breaks to someone who is a whole lot higher up on the income scale.
When corporations that literally make billions of dollars are given tax breaks, then the government has to get that money back from somewhere. It gets the money back from the people it can harass to death for owing the government 50 bucks. However, the corporations that owe the government $200,000 or $300,000 or a million dollars are allowed to get away with it because it is too much trouble to get the money from them.
The government gets the money from a lot of little people down the road. There is no question that it is unacceptable. There needs to be changes to our tax system.
I believe the position the New Democratic Party had taken was $15,000. I am glad to hear my colleague from the Alliance who thinks perhaps it should be $20,000. There is no question, there needs to be a change. People have to be able to make a living, not a great living but a living to provide things for themselves such as heat, water, food, rent, clothing, basic needs. I am not talking about buying a huge television screen or a new car every other week. That is not about what we are talking. We are talking about the basic necessities of life that people need.
A good number of these people are seniors. They are the same seniors to whom the government refuses to give that money back.