It was only the first day of the federal election campaign but it offered up an important insight. Both major parties are hearing that Canadians believe they are paying too much in personal income tax.
Both parties wasted no time in announcing they would trim personal income taxes with reductions in the lowest bracket which is a clear signal that polling heading into the campaign was telling them this is an irritant – that people believe they are paying too much for what they get from Ottawa.
It is an interesting issue because – despite the fact that people feel overtaxed – the amount they are paying falls far short of what Ottawa actually spends. So, the federal fiscal problem is worse than it appears.
Even though both have now pledged to reduce their grip on our wallets, there remain plenty of questions related to how they will fund these changes at a time when we can no longer kick our military spending commitments down the road.
One day into the campaign and we’ve already learned something about the country…five weeks to go.
