Mr. Speaker, on a couple of occasions tonight the House has been presented with the issue that if a surplus exists, it means that Canadians are overtaxed and therefore we should have a tax cut. I am not sure if there are many Canadians around who would not want to have a tax cut, but fiscal responsibility says to look at the whole question.
In the year 2003, 22 million people filed tax returns. If we were to give $100 to every taxpayer as a tax cut it would cost $2.2 billion. It is clear to most members, I would think, that $100 in a year will not make a difference in the lives of anyone.
We have to look in terms of the magnitude that a tax cut is an expensive proposition. The last time that we went through one it was a $100 billion program, but it meant that we had to sacrifice additional spending on other programs necessary for Canadians, like health care.
What would happen if Canada were to enter into a recession? We have not had a recession for a long time, thank goodness. However, the last time we had one the impact of the unemployment caused by the recession was $15 billion charged to the EI fund, which would go right against the consolidated revenue fund and put us in a deficit scenario.
I raise those points just from the standpoint that tax cuts are not a bad thing, but fiscal responsibility is part of this. Even if we pay down debt, it is a permanent savings on interest expense. If we give a tax break just for that surplus amount, that is a permanent change and it will happen every year. Maybe the member would like to comment on whether tax cuts should be reflective of what a surplus was in a particular year or would it be fiscally responsible to see what we could do over the longer period because they would be permanent cuts.