Minister of Middle Class Prosperity Mona Fortier said Canadians should use a $90 a year tax cut to buy healthy food and send their kids to camp, according to Blacklock’s Reporter.
“We are lowering taxes for middle class families and people working hard to join them, which means more money that can be used to do things like buy healthy food, send kids to camp,” Fortier said in the House of Commons.
Fortier was talking about the Liberal government’s increase of the basic personal exemption from $12,298 to $15,000 a year by 2023.
According to the Parliamentary Budget Office, the change would only save Canadians $90 each year, or $1.73 a week. The amount is considerably less than the $300 a year in savings originally advertised by Finance Minister Bill Morneau, who called it a “very significant measure.”
Conservative MP Pat Kelly said the Liberals are trying to exaggerate the impact of a “modest” change.
“The government is trying to get extraordinary credit for what is really a very modest tax cut,” said Kelly. “The budget resembles marketing documents rather than giving Canadians accurate and clear information about what the government actually plans to do.”
Sending one child to overnight summer camp can cost between $300 to $1,000 a week, with day camps costing between $35 to $500 weekly.
In 2015, the Liberals axed two fitness and arts tax credits implemented by the Harper government intending on making activities more affordable for Canadian families.
A year prior, Canadians could claim up to a $1,000 refundable credit on fitness activities for kids and receive up to $150 back in taxes for each child and another $75 each for arts activities.
During the 2019 federal election, Conservative leader Andrew Scheer proposed reviving the two tax breaks if elected.
