The trouble with tax credits

Kevin Milligan critiques the fitness tax credit proposed by the Conservatives.

Boutique tax credits benefit those who can afford accountants to arrange their financial affairs, and lard our economy with extra burdens of filling in forms and shuffling paper … Those Canadians struggling most with their budgets don’t benefit, since non-refundable credits only help those who pay tax. This is not a trivial concern – more than eight million Canadians filed non-taxable returns in 2009.