No, that’s no typo. This post is going out to all those who have jumped on the “Bash the Tories for spending like Liberals” bandwagon.
Call off the attack dogs.
The Tories are NOT spending like Liberals. They are, in fact, spending like Tories but making it LOOK like they are spending on Liberals. How so you ask??
Well let’s start off by looking at how they have structured many of their spending announcements since taking office. They offer tax credits for companies to open up on sight daycare. They offer tax credits for people who use bus passes and submit them. They offer tax credits for tools for apprentices. They offer tax breaks to students on text books. They offer tax credits for many other “specific” needs and I am sure there will be more “tax credit” initiatives to come.
This is great for those who can take advantage of them. But I honestly think that most, if not all, of the “tax credit” programs will rarely, if ever, reach the financing levels that the government has allocated for them. This is not a bad thing. It just goes to show us how a little money can go a long way by letting people take advantage by reducing their taxes without the need of a giant bureaucratic brick and mortar office complex to run it.
This means there is more money in the surplus which means a bigger debt pay down and/or more money for other tax credits. The last budget was touted as a “something for all” budget, but in reality it was a “we’ll take less from more people at tax time” budget.
An added benefit to this method is that you get to spend on what YOU want to spend on and then receive bigger tax credits for those expenditures that help build up a strong Canada.
It may take another year or two to see how effective the plan is. Because the bottom line is the bottom line. And whether your taxes go down via tax credits or a reduced tax rate is really quite irrelevant. They are still going down.