Looks like it's going to be an election about taxing the rich vs reducing   
   services for the majority.  Predictable when the Conservatives want in - to   
   protect the rich.   
   ______________________________   
      
   Ontario budget:   
   Doug Ford takes the bait with Liberals' tax hike on top-income earners   
      
   The PC leader is refusing to raise taxes on the wealthy, a move that could   
   play into Kathleen Wynne's hands   
      
      
   The Ontario Liberals slipped a relatively small income tax increase into their   
   pre-election budget, targeting the wealthy, and PC leader Doug Ford is making   
   a big noise about it.   
      
   Ford is already vowing he would scrap the tax hike, and that might be exactly   
   what the Liberals and Kathleen Wynne were hoping he would do.   
      
   The proposed changes involve the provincial surtax levied on the higher income   
   brackets. Under the Liberal plan, the top 17 per cent of earners - about 1.8   
   million people - would pay more income tax. For example:   
      
       Someone earning $95,000 a year would pay an extra $168.   
       Someone earning $130,000 would see an income tax hike of about $200.   
      
   Some 680,000 people would pay less income tax.  The bulk of people (about   
   three-quarters of Ontario`s 11 million taxpayers) are not affected.   
      
   Ford highlighted it prominently during his news conference Wednesday.   
      
   "Today's budget includes massive — I repeat, massive — tax hikes," Ford   
   said.   
   "I'm not going to go after 1.8 million people and increase their taxes, charge   
   them $200 more when they're already struggling with the highest hydro rates in   
   North America."   
      
   The budget documents say for those facing a tax hike under the plan, the   
   average increase would be $200.  Ford took that figure and ran with it.   
      
   "So, just think: a family of five will be paying $1,000 more in new taxes," he   
   told the news conference.   
      
   I asked Ford to explain his math.   
      
   "We know that they've increased the taxes $200," he said. "Times five is   
   $1,000."   
      
   So the kids in the family of five face an income tax increase too?       {>_<}   
      
   "I'm not saying kids," Ford responded. "If there's five people in your house   
   that are paying taxes, there's going to be five people paying $200 more in   
   taxes."   
      
   That is, if each of those five people earns $130,000 or so.    (^o^)       
      
   The Liberal budget proposes deficits for six straight years, an astonishing   
   time frame given that Ontario's economy is booming and unemployment is the   
   lowest it's been for nearly two decades.  The Liberal plan would add $31.9   
   billion to Ontario's debt.     
   It bleeds so much red ink for so long that it gives Ford plenty of options for   
   saving money.   
      
   He could halt the three per cent increase to welfare rates ($2.3 billion).   
   He could put the brakes on the free day care program and the expansion of   
   child care spaces ($2.2 billion).   
   He could refuse to increase hospital funding ($822 million).   
   He could say no to free drugs for seniors ($1 billion).   
   Or he could stop the construction of a high-speed rail line between Toronto   
   and Windsor ($11 billion).   
      
   So far, Ford has not committed to scrapping (or keeping) any of these.  But he   
   says he would put a halt to the income tax hike.     
      
   You can imagine the attack lines the Liberals will use in the run up to the   
   June 7 election: "Doug Ford says he's for the little guy, but he doesn't want   
   rich people to pay their fair share of tax."  Or perhaps, "Doug Ford complains   
   about the Sunshine    
   List, but he doesn't want somebody earning $130,000 to pay an extra $200 in   
   income tax."   
      
   The NDP's Andrea Horwath isn't opposed to the plan.  She's cooking up a tax   
   hike on the rich for her own campaign platform.     
      
   "The wealthiest amongst us will be asked to step up and pay their fair share.   
   That will be a part of our plan," Horwath told a news conference Wednesday.   
      
   The Liberals' proposed income tax increase is actually relatively small   
   potatoes in the grand scheme of the provincial budget.  The changes would net   
   the government $275 million in the coming year.     
      
   That's less than two-tenths of one per cent of government revenue.   
      
   The proposal is buried near the end of the 308-page budget. Finance Minister   
   Charles Sousa didn't even bother to mention it during his 45-minute budget   
   speech in the Legislature.   
      
   It's almost as if the Liberals wanted Ford to think they were trying to pull a   
   fast one on the voters, so that he would come out hard against it.   
      
      
   http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/ontario-budget-2018-doug-f   
   rd-kathleen-wynne-1.4597965   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)