The typical liberal combination of taxing the “rich” and spending like drunken sailors has Ontarians playing a gruesome game of catch-up with an ever mounting debt.
From Financial Post
As a result, Ontarians can expect another $77-billion in deficits over the next five years. Under the current fiscal plan, the accumulated deficit will reach $187-billion by 2012-13, up $63-billion since McGuinty became premier in 2003-04.
McGuinty also implemented a number of damaging tax increases to help pay for his spending spree (i.e. the then-new Ontario Health Premium, cancellation of the planned elimination of the personal income surtax, and corporate income tax increases). In contrast, while Ontario increased personal and corporate income taxes, governments of all ideological stripes in Western Canada were busy improving the incentives for hard work, savings, investment and entrepreneurship by pursuing pro-growth personal and corporate tax reductions.
For example, Conservative-led Alberta decreased its corporate income tax rate (12.5% to 10%), as did Liberal-led British Columbia (13.5% to 10%) and Saskatchewan’s NDP and now Conservative governments (17% to 12%). In other words, while McGuinty significantly increased the cost of investing in Ontario, governments out west were moving in the opposite direction.
Fortunately for Ontarians, McGuinty partially realized his errors and changed course, announcing a phased-in plan to reduce the general corporate income tax rate from 14% to 10% by 2013.
McGuinty also reduced Ontario’s bottom personal income tax rate from 6.05% to 5.05% on Jan. 1 of this year. However, he left the middle and top personal income tax rates unchanged — Ontario’s personal income tax rates on skilled, educated workers remain among the highest in Canada.
