Mr. Speaker, I will be sharing my time with the member for Sudbury.
I want to begin by thanking my colleague, the hon. member for Victoria, for moving this motion. He is giving us an opportunity to elaborate on certain aspects of the budget brought down by the Minister of Finance.
During the election campaign, the Prime Minister publicly and formally promised Canadians there would be no new taxes. Not even six months ago, his Minister of Finance reiterated that promise in anticipation of budget 2013-14. Meanwhile, they accuse their adversaries of wanting to increase the tax burden and they claim to be standing up for the taxpayer. We now know that was just malarkey. In reality, the Conservatives were secretly preparing massive tax hikes that affect all Canadians.
With support from the Prime Minister, the Minister of Finance went against every one of this government's public positions and basically increased Canadians' tax burden. The Minister of State for Finance challenged us to find tax increases in the budget. We found them handily.
No less than 1,290 types of products will be subject to higher tariffs. These new tariffs on a wide range of sectors in more than 70 countries are significant: 5% more for bicycles, 11% for scissors, 3% for strollers, 6% for table fans, 10% for vinegar and so forth. There is even a new 5% tax on iPods even though the Conservatives falsely accused the official opposition of promoting such a measure. This is another example of the government's hypocrisy when it comes to economics.
Generally speaking, we are not talking about luxury items here. We are talking about standard consumer products that are used by the majority of Canadian households. It is not the importers of these products who are going to absorb the bulk of these new tariffs. It is the consumer who is going to be stuck with the bill. It is not just consumers who are going to feel the impact of this unjustified measure. Retailers located close to the Canada-U.S. border are going to see their sales decline again because of this new price gap.
This is an ironic choice by a government that falsely claims to defend taxpayers and help the economy. Unfortunately for Canadians, the Conservatives did not stop there.
In addition to these tariff increases, the government is eliminating the 15% tax credit for money invested in labour-sponsored venture capital corporations. The government got this money back over a three-year period because businesses grew and formerly unemployed workers paid more taxes. Instead of addressing the fact that Canada is behind when it comes to venture capital, the Conservatives decided to go after Canadian taxpayers.
I want to point out that the government is eliminating the preferential tax rates for co-operatives. This means that co-operatives such as Mouvement Desjardins will support fewer small and medium-sized businesses and fewer projects. This also means less money in the pockets of depositors, who are once again being affected by the Conservatives' policies. Add to that the end of the tax exemption for things such as parking and safety deposit box rentals.
As a result of these measures, taxpayers will have less wiggle room and will have to either spend less or go more into debt, which is never good news for the economy. Over a period of just five years, the 2013-14 budget is increasing the tax burden by $7.8 billion.
This burden will go from $500 million this year to $2.3 billion before the end of the decade. Between 2010 and 2018, the Conservatives will have increased the tax burden by nearly $20 billion.
The public is the government's first victim. After cutting all federal government services to the public in their 2012-13 budget, the Conservatives are now dipping into taxpayers' pockets. Now, Canadians will be paying more for fewer services. The Conservatives will have to take responsibility for this.
This government made a choice. True to form, it decided to spare major corporations and the wealthy and force the general public to suffer the consequences. The main impact of the $12 billion in tax cuts for the private sector was to increase the financial reserves of Canadian businesses from $185 billion to $575 billion over a period of 10 years. While major corporations will benefit from the Conservatives' handouts, Canadians will be paying more to live their lives. This is completely unacceptable.
Why make Canadian taxpayers suffer because of the government's budget cuts? Why cut the number of employees at the Canada Revenue Agency by 6% when the government is losing tens of billions of dollars to tax evasion? Why eliminate tax cuts that stimulate the Canadian economy when the economic outlook is still uncertain?
The current motion condemns this situation. We want to speak out against this government's poor choices. The latest budget cuts will affect people's day-to-day lives. This wide range of new taxes will undoubtedly impact consumer confidence and debt levels.
The Conservatives refuse to admit that tax cuts for big business severely limited the government's room to manoeuvre but did not have much of an impact on economic growth. They refuse to admit that their decisions are catching up with them and that Canadians are the ones now paying the price.
With that in mind, I ask the members here to support the motion moved by the member for Victoria, thus sending a clear message to the government: the significant tax hikes set out in the latest budget are unacceptable, inappropriate and unjustified.