Madam Speaker, I am very pleased to be able to participate in today's debate.
I first want to reassure the House that in spite of what the opposition motion claims, our government is committed to strengthening the middle class and ensuring economic growth. Since coming to power, our government has ensured that this growth and prosperity are inclusive and benefit as many Canadians as possible, and it will continue to do so.
When we were elected in 2015, we promised that our government would be open and responsible and that it would better reflect the values and expectations of Canadians. Our government continues to be inspired by a simple but fundamental idea: everyone must benefit from the growth we have seen in Canada for decades and that we continue to enjoy. For our government, ensuring that Canadians have equal opportunities to succeed is not just the right thing to do, but the smart thing to do for the economy and for growth. We know that this is vital for a more just society and for growth that is more sustainable in the long term.
After decades of slow growth for the middle class and higher incomes for the wealthy, we made a real change. Almost four years ago, we asked the wealthiest 1% of Canadians to contribute just a little bit more so that we could lower taxes for the middle class. Single individuals who benefit from this tax reduction are saving an average of $330 a year, while couples who benefit are saving an average of $540 a year.
Our government also brought in the Canada child benefit. Compared to the previous child benefit system, the Canada child benefit is simpler, more generous, and better targeted to families who need it most. In fact, nine out of 10 families are better off with the Canada child benefit compared to the previous system.
Nearly 300,000 children have been lifted out of poverty thanks to the Canada child benefit. To make this effective benefit even better, the government is indexing it annually to keep pace with the cost of living effective July 2018, or two years earlier than planned. For this benefit year, families will be getting up to $6,500 for every child under six.
Thanks to the Canada child benefit, a working single parent with two children and an income of $30,000 a year now receives $3,000 more in benefits every year. That is $3,000 more to help a single-parent family pay for things like healthy food, sports activities and music lessons.
We made this investment because we realized that a better future for a child means a better future for our country. As a result of the middle-class tax cut and the Canada child benefit, a typical family of four has $2,000 more a year than before we were elected in 2015, and that includes this year and every year after. This figure does not come from me, it comes from the OECD. Last summer, the OECD published a report showing that a typical Canadian family of four was $2,000 better off than in 2015, thanks to more progressive, better targeted measures that were really helping families from coast to coast to coast.
However, we did not stop there. Our government also introduced the Canada workers benefit, or CWB, a strengthened version of the working income tax benefit. Over two million Canadians have benefited from the creation of the CWB, which is designed to encourage more people to enter or stay in the workforce. Under the new CWB, low-income workers earning $15,000 annually could get almost $500 more in benefits in 2019 than they were getting last year. In addition, the CWB's expanded eligible income range will ensure that more workers qualify and receive it.
Starting in 2019, we plan to make that benefit more accessible by allowing the Canada Revenue Agency to calculate the amount of the benefit for all eligible tax filers, even if they did not claim it. We expect this change to be particularly useful for people with limited mobility, those who live far from points of service and those without Internet access. Our government estimates that, as a result of these changes, an additional 300,000 low-income workers in Canada will receive the new CWB for the 2019 tax year. In general, the improved CWB will help lift roughly 70,000 Canadians out of poverty.
That is not all. As part of the government's plan, hard-working Canadians created over 900,000 new jobs, most of them full-time, bringing the unemployment rate down to the lowest it has been in nearly 40 years. There have been especially strong employment gains for women.
Our government continues to invest in people and to ensure the sustainable growth of the economy in a fiscally responsible manner while also ensuring that our debt-to-GDP ratio continues on the downward track.
However, we know that we cannot rest on our laurels if we want to continue to grow the economy and the middle class.
We are not just creating opportunities for the middle class to succeed. We are also creating opportunities for businesses to succeed: to create jobs, support their communities and grow the economy.
To support Canada's hard-working entrepreneurs, we cut the small business tax rate from 10% to 9.5% last year, and then to 9% at the start of this year. For small businesses, these cuts will mean up to $7,500 in federal tax savings each year, compared to 2017, savings that they can reinvest in purchasing new equipment, developing new products or creating new jobs.
Our government is committed to a tax system that is fair to all taxpayers and an economy that works for the middle class. By cracking down on tax evasion, particularly abroad, we can ensure that our government has the money needed to deliver programs that help the middle class and those working hard to join it. Preserving the integrity of the tax system also helps ensure that Canada remains positioned as an attractive place to work, to invest and to do business.
In recent years, our government has made significant investments to strengthen the CRA's ability to unravel complex tax schemes and to increase collaboration with international partners. These investments have already yielded positive results. Starting in 2015, the CRA expanded the number of audit teams that focus on high net worth individuals and their associated corporate structures. As a result, there are now more than 1,100 offshore audits under way, resulting in more than 50 criminal investigations with links to offshore transactions.
To further combat tax evasion and aggressive tax avoidance, budget 2019 proposes to invest an additional $150 million over five years, starting in 2019-20. This investment will allow the CRA to fund new initiatives and extend existing programs. First, the CRA will be able to hire additional auditors, conduct outreach and build technical expertise to target non-compliance associated with cryptocurrency transactions and the digital economy. These investments will also help create a new data quality examination team to ensure proper withholding, remitting and reporting of income earned by non-residents in order to ensure tax compliance. Finally, these investments will allow the CRA to extend programs aimed at combatting offshore non-compliance.
Our government is also taking legislative actions, on both the international and domestic fronts, to enhance the integrity of Canada's tax system and give Canadians greater confidence that the system is fair for everyone. Let me share a few examples.
Legislation was enacted in December 2016 that requires large multinational enterprises to file country-by-country reports with revenue authorities to provide a clearer picture of their global operations. Budget 2017 introduced measures to prevent the avoidance or deferral of income tax through the use of derivatives. Budget 2018 introduced measures to strengthen international tax rules, including by preventing unintended, tax-free distributions by Canadian corporations to non-resident shareholders through the use of certain transactions involving partnerships and trusts. Budget 2019 proposes measures to keep mutual fund trusts from using a method of allocating capital gains to their unitholders in a way that inappropriately defers tax and to stop the use of individual pension plans to avoid limits that generally apply to transfers out of defined benefit pension plans.
There are many more examples of such measures. The one thing all of these measures have in common is that they are motivated by an understanding that an economy that works for everyone needs a tax system that is fair and we need all Canadians to pay their fair share of taxes. A fair tax system instills confidence and helps create opportunities for everyone.
Another particularly important part of our plan is improving financial consumer protection. The government is committed to ensuring that a strong and effective banking system is in place to guarantee the best possible protection for all financial consumers when they do business with their bank online or in person. That is why we have strengthened and modernized the financial consumer protection framework.
To give all stakeholders an opportunity to express their views, our government asked the Commissioner of the Financial Consumer Agency of Canada, the FCAC, to consult a broad range of stakeholders, including provincial, federal and territorial regulators, to identify best practices in consumer protection for the banking sector.
That move enabled us to achieve our goal of ensuring the best possible overall protection for Canadians across the country. Canadians deserve a banking system that adheres to the highest consumer protection standards. That is why, following a comprehensive review of bank sales practices and consultations with the provinces and territories, as I mentioned, our government took significant measures to promote Canadians' rights and interests. By implementing a new set of rules to protect Canadians when they use their financial institutions, our government introduced the most significant change since the creation of the Financial Consumer Agency of Canada in 2001.
These legislative measures targeted three main areas. First, they would ensure that banks had internal operational practices to further strengthen outcomes for consumers, including ensuring that consumers' financial needs are considered when selling them financial services and products. Second, they would ensure that the Financial Consumer Agency of Canada has the necessary tools to implement monitoring best practices, including requiring banks to comply with their legal obligations and ordering charges that have been improperly collected always be returned. Third, these measures require banks to provide timely electronic alerts to consumers when they are at risk of incurring fees, which further empowers and protects consumers. Our government will continue to hold banks to account, to treat Canadians fairly and to provide better results for consumers.
In closing, the government, guided by what is most important to Canadians, will continue to work on ensuring that as many Canadians as possible are better off while we ensure the growth of our economy today and in the long term. We believe that is the right thing to do for all Canadians.