Trick or Treat!!! Finance Minister Jim Flaherty doling out Tax Cuts instead of candies this Halloween.
Jim the Slasher...Finance Minister Jim FlahertySlashes Taxes Left and Right..
Prime Minister Stephen Harper's election-ready minority government has offered most Canadians tax savings of several hundred dollars a year by trimming income taxes and cutting the GST by one percentage point
With the Government projecting a Budget Surplus surpassing last year $13.8 billions, it is getting ever ready for Election by further trimming down the Good and Services Tax another 1% from 6 after another 1% was trimmed last year. Personal Income tax was also lowered .5 (half a percent) point to 15 %.
And here is what the Slasher said about his mini-budget (annual budget would be tabled in Spring):
Canadians deserve a tax cut and all Canadians will get one.
And here are where the taxes are cut:
1. Goods and Services Tax..further 1% from 6% on top of 1% reduction last year, effective January 2008..Cost to Govt. in lower tax revenue $5 billions.
2. Income tax for personal income cut to 15 % from 15.5%, retro-active January 1, 2007.
3. Personal Exemption increase to $9,600 from the current threshold of $ 8,929 (the amount where all Canadians can earn without having to pay Federal Income Tax. And will further increase to $10,500 next year..
Combining 2 and 3 would mean income tax savings next year of $300 on average for a family bringing in between $30,000 to $45,000 a year. A Family earning 15 and 30 thousands would save 180 in 2008.
And while the two income tax measures will benefit all taxpayers, they are of particular value to low-income individuals. As a result, 385,000 people will be removed from the income tax rolls altogether, Flaherty estimated.
Including the latest GST cut, the government yesterday proposed personal tax reductions of $9.4 billion annually.
Flaherty also used his budget surpluses, which would have hit $16 billion this year without the new tax measures, to reduce corporate taxes "much deeper and much faster than ever contemplated before."
(So everyone gets a Treat from Ottawa this Halloween.)
Finance Minister Flaherty had to deliver his mini-budget in National Press Theater across the House of Commons because the opposition NDP (New Democtratic Party) refused his 11th hour request to deliver the Mini in the house.
NDP Leader Jack Layton said he would not co-operate with the Conservative Publicity Gimmick.
(No wonder the NDP ever since its founding could not win a Federal Government, even though its Provincial counterparts have been winning governments most especially in Saskatchewan and Manitoba).
Well the NDP has always been in opposition, so it is getting comfortable with its role, whereas the Liberal and the Conservative have been alternating leading the Government. Forget about the Parti Québécois, it is only running candidates in the Province of Quebec, not Federally all over...
And what the Provincials and Municipal government have to say about the Federal surplus. Nothing much except asking some handouts, instead of putting their own houses in order...
For the mini budget and more, it’s h e r e
GANGSTA CAN’T JUST SHOOT STRAIGHT AND FOR THAT WE THANK THEM...
Betsy Powell
Crime Reporter--Toronto Star
A wounded man was the only victim of a running gun battle between two armed groups who fired at least 40 shots on a downtown Toronto street early yesterday, police said.
The fusillade blew out car windows and left bullet holes in storefronts on Adelaide St. W.
It was 3 am and the rival gangs decided to shoot it out after a night a partying and maybe some ‘praining’.
For eye witnesses accounts and video visit thetoronto star here
