OTTAWA, February 26, 2014 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Prime Minister Stephen Harper came out yesterday supporting income splitting for families after suggesting earlier this month that the Conservative government may renege on its 2011 promise to introduce the policy once the budget was balanced in 2015.
“Income splitting was a good policy for Canadian seniors and it will be a good policy for Canadian families,” Harper said during Question Period yesterday.
Harper was responding to Liberal Party leader Justin Trudeau who asked the Prime Minister why he did not “ask his Minister of Finance to analyze that promise before he made it to Canadians?”
Harper responded that the Conservative government has been “clear” about reducing taxes for families: “We will look at tax cuts for Canadian families when the budget is balanced.”
The promise of income splitting was a major plank in the 2011 Conservative Party platform. When he announced the plan, Prime Minister Harper said that the current tax system treats married couples like “roommates,” because spouses are taxed individually. The Family Tax Cut, as the government called it, would allow families with children under 18 to share up to $50,000 of their household income for federal tax purposes. Families would save money on their tax bill by dropping the high-earning spouse to a lower tax bracket.
Minister of Finance Jim Flaherty seemed to waver on the promise earlier this month, telling reporters that income splitting may not “benefit our society,” adding that it “needs a long, hard analytical look.”
A day after Flaherty’s remarks, Harper came out saying that Canadians will have to wait and see what kind of tax break families can expect once the budget is balanced next year. He mentioned nothing about income splitting.
A number of Conservative MPs have come forward with a call to the government to keep its promise once the budget is balanced.
“As Conservatives, we made a promise to introduce income splitting, and I expect that we should keep this pledge,” said Maurice Vellacott (Saskatoon-Wanuskewin) last week. Vellacott’s sentiments have been echoed by MPs Jason Kenney, Tony Clement, and Brad Trost.
Advocates of income splitting say the current tax system is unjust because it penalizes single-earner families. The Institute of Marriage and Family Canada as well as REAL Women of Canada say income-splitting is “long overdue.”