General

Harper promises tax cut for families

Income splitting would allow parents to pay lower taxes

Stephen Harper unveiled plans for a new tax break while campaigning in the Victoria-area riding of Esquimalt-Juan de Fuca on Monday that would allow parents with children under 18 to split their income. Letting married couples with children to split their income would allow a spouse in a higher tax bracket to shift income to their partner with lower earnings to reduce the rate of taxation. The catch is the cut won’t take effect until the deficit has been eliminated, which the Conservatives say won’t happen until 2015-2016. Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff dismissed the pledge, saying it lacked credibility: “It’s like you come to a family and say, ‘I’ve got good news. First, I’m going to cut taxes for the biggest and most profitable corporations in the country and then maybe in five years, if you take a ticket and you’re patient and you vote for us a couple of times, [then] we’ll do something for you’.”

The Globe and Mail

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