Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to rise today in the House, on behalf of the people of Sherbrooke, who put their trust in me for a second time. Since this is my first official speech in the House in 2016, I want to thank them for their renewed trust in me. It is a privilege to represent them here. I am also pleased to speak to Bill C-2, as national revenue critic for the progressive opposition, the NDP. I will provide a brief explanation of how our opposition to the current government is a progressive and constructive one, unlike the other oppositions in the House.

Bill C-2 amends the Income Tax Act, an extremely important and complex piece of legislation. It deserves all the attention we are giving it today. Earlier, I heard some government members talking about topics that are not in Bill C-2. I will try to stick as much as possible to what is in this bill.

I will start off by saying that my colleagues and I will support Bill C-2 because it has some good things in it. It does have some bad things though, and that is what I will focus on in my speech if the government does not mind. I will spend more time talking about the worrisome aspects of this bill.

The two main points I want to talk about are changes to income tax rates—the tax brackets that will be in effect if the bill passes—and changes to the savings plan known as the TFSA, the tax-free savings account. The bill introduces a change to reduce the limit, making it somewhat lower than what the Conservatives brought in last year.

Let me begin with the new income tax rates. Unfortunately, I had high expectations about these changes, and I was hoping to see some help for the middle class, but that is clearly not what we have here. Wealthy Canadians will benefit from the cuts, but 60% of Canadians will get nothing. That is disappointing. Canadian voters expected a lot from the government, as did I with respect to this first bill. The government promised that the middle-class tax cut would be the first item on the agenda right after the election. It is now clear that our definition of the middle class is very different, which is very unfortunate for Canadians who were so hopeful. They put their faith in the Liberals. They expected a lot from them, but unfortunately, it is clear from this bill that things are well below their expectations—and mine, too.

There is one other thing I just have to mention, something we have been hearing for a while and not just in today's debate. Since coming to power, the government keeps talking about the future. It keeps talking about a plan. It keeps saying that it will do something in the future and that it is going to tackle this problem or that—soon—and that we should not worry, because everything is coming. However, people need action now. I would have preferred to hear the government begin by talking about right now, talking about what it is doing and bringing in right now.

Unfortunately, in many of today's speeches, the Liberals are still talking about the future, about plans, and about what it intends to do in the future, when people have real needs now and they cannot wait until March or later to see these much-anticipated changes take place.

Why is it that we on this side of the House see that the proposed changes to the tax brackets as less than ideal? The Liberals are tossing around huge numbers, just as the Conservatives did. They are saying that nine million Canadians will benefit from this tax cut. That is a nice number. Everyone watching us at home thinks they are part of that nine million. The Liberals are talking about the middle class. They are saying that nine million people will benefit from a tax cut, but if you look at it a little closer, you see that you have to earn more than $45,000 a year. If you earn $45,000, you get only a $50 reduction. It may bring to mind a nice number when they say they are going to put more money in the pockets of nine million people, but some people might be expecting more than $50.

It is better than nothing, and that is partly why we are supporting this bill. However, many people are disappointed today because those who benefit the most from this measure have the highest tax rates. Accordingly, those who earn the most income have the most to gain.

Luc Godbout, from Université de Sherbrooke in my riding, is a renowned tax expert who often speaks about subjects we are called upon to discuss in the House. To illustrate that those who had the most to gain were those with the most money, he pointed out that with the new changes, a couple with a combined income of $250,000 would get up to $1,120 in tax cuts, whereas a couple with a combined income of $75,000 would on average get between $0 and $4 in tax cuts. My colleague mentioned this earlier. The numbers speak for themselves.

I want to be sure to talk about TFSAs because they are another reason we are supporting Bill C-2. I am talking about the change to the contribution ceiling for this somewhat contentious savings vehicle.

Many people use them for the right reasons. However, there have been documented cases of people using TFSAs as a way to avoid paying taxes. That is unfortunate because the primary objective of the TFSA is a noble one. Various studies have shown that some people are putting money that does not necessarily constitute new savings into their TFSAs. People are not always putting new money for their retirement into those accounts. Instead, they are transferring other assets into their TFSAs. They are simply transferring assets that they already have from one place to another to try to avoid paying taxes. It is unfortunate that some people have been using the TFSA that way. As many members have said today and as is quite obvious to everyone, only a very small number of people make the maximum contribution to a TFSA, and it is usually the wealthiest people who do.

When the Conservative government announced that it was going to raise the limit to $10,000, I had a hard time accepting it. I thought it was a bad decision. I am pleased to see that the Liberals are reversing that decision, and that at the very least, they are going to minimize the cost for future generations. It is important to mention that future generations would have had to pay exorbitant amounts if the government had kept the limit at $10,000. The parliamentary budget officer estimated that the fiscal cost could have reached approximately $130 billion by 2080. When we talk about future generations, I try to include myself in that. I would like to think that I will still be around in 2080. As a result, this increase in the limit really bothered me because it would have had a direct impact on tax revenue for future generations for years.

We must be careful and look at studies that also ask us to carefully consider what will happen with TFSAs, because this is a recent savings vehicle and it could have rather significant consequences for the tax system. Jonathan Kesselman came up with the idea for the TFSA in the early 2000s and together with a colleague whose name escapes me—I apologize for that—studied the possibility of a tax-free savings vehicle. In the article “Tax-Free Savings Accounts: Expanding, Restricting or Refining?”, which appeared in an issue of the Canadian Tax Journal in 2015, Mr. Kesselman presented some options to help the government realize the impact the TFSA could have and ensure that it will be a sustainable program for future generations.

Pierre-Luc Dusseault

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