Mr. Chair, as indicated in the observations made earlier, the Government of Canada is determined to ensure that we have a fairer tax system for all Canadians. We have adopted concrete measures to achieve that.
The first step was to lower taxes for the middle class. The Government of Canada knows that a strong economy relies on a strong middle class. When middle-class Canadians and those working hard to join the middle class have money to save, invest, and help grow the economy, then everyone benefits. The Government of Canada has taken measures to lower the tax rate on individual incomes from 22% to 20.5%. Single individuals who will benefit from this measure will see an average tax reduction of $330 every year, while couples will see an average tax reduction of $540 every year.
To help pay for this middle-class tax cut, the government increased taxes for the wealthiest Canadians by creating a new higher income tax rate of 33% for individual taxable incomes in excess of $200,000 annually. It is a question of basic fairness.
We are very proud of the changes we made to the tax system and I am sure that this will improve our economic situation and the situation for Canada's middle class.