Many people were upset with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau this week for saying “low-income families don’t benefit from tax breaks because they don’t pay taxes.”
Of course, some were upset because they felt it was untrue. But Trudeau was speaking the complete truth when it comes to income taxes (HST, realty taxes and other consumption taxes are another story). It is just a truth that he may not want many Canadians to know.
On average, two of every five Canadian households do not pay anything towards federally and provincially funded expenses such as health care, education, community and social services, national defence, public safety and even the good old Canada Revenue Agency. One household of every five pays much more than 70 per cent of all of those costs.
It didn’t used to be this way, but it is now.
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