Harper Index: Hidden agenda of cuts could follow Harper win

[tuvor]

Funding for public services will dwindle due to corporate tax cuts - CLC economist.

Ottawa, September 15, 2008: Canadians know many things about Stephen Harper and his Conservatives. They know the Conservatives have a lot of money to spend on their election campaign, and they know what the Conservative government has done. They don't, however, really know a lot about what's in store if the Conservatives get a majority government.

"The only real promise from the Conservatives has been a cut in diesel tax for truckers," Jackson told HarperIndex.ca in a phone interview. He is concerned about what he sees as he looks ahead: although Harper inherited a large federal surplus when he became Prime Minister, the tax cuts he has made will force massive program cuts.

Economist Andrew Jackson of the Canadian Labour Congress is concerned about what he sees as he looks ahead. Stephen Harper inherited a large federal surplus when he became Prime Minister, but tax cuts he has made mean he will soon face a big deficit without massive cuts.

"Moving forward, the once-large underlying federal surplus is modest at best because of the two-point Conservative cut to the GST," he wrote on the The Progressive Economics Forum. This cut alone will cost $ 12 billion this year, rising to $14 billion in 2012-13, even before accounting for tax cuts to corporations."

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