Harper says Tory plan means lower taxes for Canadians

Last Updated: Saturday, January 7, 2006 | 9:28 PM ET

CBC News

Conservative Leader Stephen Harper confirmed on Saturday that his party would scrap the tax relief plan outlined in the Liberals' mini-budget last November. But he said Canadians would end up with more savings.

Harper said Conservative tax breaks, including a reduction in the Goods and Services Tax, would have a more significant impact on Canadian families than the Liberals' proposed tax cuts announced for low- and middle-income earners.

"We have a tax-reduction plan. We'll be doing our plan, not their plan," Harper told reporters while campaigning in Kitchener, Ont.

Conservative Leader Stephen Harper accompanied by local candidates in New Hamburg, Ont. Saturday. (CP Photo)

"Our plan will mean substantially lower taxes for Canadians. It's a combination of a GST cut, of selected personal tax cuts and some cuts for a range of business."

The Liberal government's plan, announced before the campaign began, would increase the basic personal exemption by $500 and trim the tax rate at the bottom income bracket to 15 per cent from 16 per cent.

• FROM JAN. 6, 2006: Tory plan would scrap Liberal tax cut on low-income earners

"The problem with general tax reductions, as the Liberals have shown in the past, is they're always offset by other measures," Harper said. "That's why nobody's going to notice this particular tax reduction."

Harper said his party decided on a combination of cuts because the Conservatives want them to be "real, noticed and not reversed."

"This plan will save Canadians money. It will be far less tax than you're paying under the Liberals."

Harper said the Conservatives would remove the capital gains tax on listed stock donations to charity if they were elected Jan. 23. The measure should make it easier for people to support the charities of their choice, he said.

The Conservatives have said they would cut the seven-per-cent GST by one per cent immediately. The party has pledged a further one-per-cent reduction of the tax within five years.

Martin says Tory plan would hurt poorer Canadians

Liberal Leader Paul Martin, who was campaigning in Montreal on Saturday, said the Tories would actually have to increase income taxes to pay for the GST cut.

"They intend to go to those Canadians who need that money most and they intend to increase their taxes," Martin said.

"And they intend to do this to pay for a whole series of promises which they've not costed."

Members of Harper's team said they had costed their plan, estimating Tory tax cuts would total $32 billion while Liberal cuts would total $29 billion.

Later Saturday, on the campaign plane, Stephen Harper told reporters that the Conservative tax cuts would actually total about $49 billion.