Madam Speaker, before I begin, I wish to inform you that I will be splitting my time with the member for Rivière-des-Mille-Îles.
Let me begin by saying that when we have an economy that works for the middle class, we have a country that works for everyone. Since coming into office, our government has worked to bring confidence and optimism back to Canada's middle class and to help those working to join it. We remain committed to doing even more.
One of our government's first actions after coming into government was to raise taxes on the wealthiest 1%, so we could lower taxes on the middle class. We reduced the 22% federal income tax rate to 20.5% for 2016 and subsequent taxation years. This tax cut is already benefiting nearly nine million Canadians. Single individuals who benefit will see an average tax reduction of $330 every year and couples will benefit by seeing an average tax reduction of $540 every year. This means more money in the pockets of the middle class. To help pay for the middle-class tax cuts, the government raised taxes on the wealthiest Canadians by introducing a new top income tax rate of 33% for individuals with a taxable income of more than $200,000 per year.
Our government then proceeded with one of the most significant social policy innovations in a generation; that is, bringing in the new Canada child benefit. The CCB is giving nine out of 10 families and their children more money every month to spend on everything from school supplies to sporting equipment. Families who benefit saw an average increase in child benefits of almost $2,300 in the 2016-17 fiscal year. The CCB has tremendously helped families in my riding of Brampton North. Raising a family in Canada can be challenging and the CCB has helped ease the financial burden for Brampton North families who need it most.
Our government is also taking important steps to make sure that Canadians today have a more secure and dignified retirement in the future. Just last week, we marked the final step in implementing the enhancement to the Canada pension plan.
Taken together, these actions will help strengthen and grow Canada's middle class and, in turn, our economy and our country will be stronger than ever before.
Let me turn to the issue brought forward by this motion today; that is, ensuring a fair tax system for Canada. We believe every Canadian must pay their fair share of taxes, period. Underground economic activity, tax evasion, and aggressive tax planning stand in the way of tax fairness. Too often, it is hard-working, middle-class Canadians, like those in my riding of Brampton North, who pick up the tab for the selfish motives of certain individual businesses that look to gain an unfair advantage. This is totally unacceptable. That is why our government has taken, and continues to take, action to crack down on tax evasion and to combat aggressive tax avoidance.
Part of the government's strategy to fight these problems includes providing the Canada Revenue Agency with sufficient resources to administer and enforce tax laws. For example, budget 2016 committed $444.4 million to enhance the CRA's efforts to crack down on tax evasion and to combat tax avoidance by taking a number of actions. These include hiring additional auditors and specialists, developing robust business intelligence infrastructure, increasing verification activities, and improving the quality of investigative work that targets criminal tax evaders.
Budget 2016 also invested $351.6 million to help the CRA improve its ability to collect outstanding tax debt, which will help collect approximately another $7.4 billion in tax debt owed to the Government of Canada.
Furthermore, Canada's tax system requires ongoing adjustments to ensure it is functioning as intended and contributing to the objective of the economy that works for everyone. That is why internationally Canada is actively engaged in coordinated multilateral efforts to address base erosion and profit shifting, also known as BEPS, which refers to international tax planning arrangements undertaken by multinational enterprises to inappropriately minimize their taxes.
Here at home, we are working to prevent the ability of high net worth individuals to use private corporations to inappropriately reduce or defer their taxes. To help address this, budget 2016 introduced measures to prevent business owners from multiplying access to the $500,000 small business deduction using complex partnership and corporate structures; and to close loopholes that allow private corporations to use a life insurance policy to distribute amounts tax-free that would otherwise be taxable.
The measures I mentioned today are by no means exhaustive, but they do give a good indication of the attention that the government is placing on combatting tax evasion and avoidance. Seeking out tax evaders and avoiders is about fairness and Canadians want fairness
By taking action to prevent tax evasion and close tax loopholes, we will improve the fairness and integrity of the tax system, and contribute to fiscal sustainability, both at home and abroad. We believe that our plan is the right one to improve the integrity of Canada's tax system.