Mr. Speaker, consider two families. In one, a single income earner makes $75,000. In another, two income earners make $38,000 each. The family with a single income in this case pays more tax, even though they are making less money. That is not fair.
The government has tried to justify its unfair tax changes by claiming that the current rules give a mechanism for splitting income to some couples, a mechanism that does not exist for wage earners. However, this difference is the result of a Liberal decision to do away with income splitting for parents in the first place.
At the time of the last election, all parents could split their income, regardless of how they earned it. That was fair. The Liberals are now using a situation they created to justify their unfair changes. However, families understand that income splitting is always fair because it reflects the reality that families share their income and that families who earn the same income should pay the same rate of tax.
If the government wants a fairer tax system, then it should bring back income splitting for all parents.