Mr. Speaker, I as well present an income trust broken promise petition on behalf of, among others, Mr. Allen of Belleville, Ontario. Mr. Allen clearly remembers the Prime Minister boasting about his apparent commitment to accountability when he said, “There is no greater fraud than a promise not kept”.
The petitioner, Mr. Allen, and others remind the Prime Minister that he promised never to tax income trusts, but he recklessly broke that promise by imposing a very punitive 31.5% tax. This tax permanently wiped out over $25 billion of the hard-earned retirement savings of over two million Canadians, particularly seniors.
The petitioner therefore calls upon the Conservative minority government to, first, admit that its decision to tax income trusts was based on flawed methodology and incorrect assumptions; second, to apologize to those who were unfairly harmed by this broken promise; and finally, to repeal the punitive 31.5% tax on the trusts.