OTTAWA – “The tax cuts continue,” says Leon Benoit, Member of Parliament for Vegreville-Wainwright. “Our first Conservative budget made our priority clear – leaving more money in the pockets of hard-working Canadians. Our second federal budget goes even further, containing much-needed tax relief for families and businesses. It will help to create the economic advantages the country needs to be stronger and more internationally competitive.”

The measures include:

• reducing the GST rate from 7 to 6 per cent;
• raising the age and pension income credits by $1,000, effective 2006;
• increasing the basic personal amount and permanently reducing the lowest personal income tax rate from 16 to 15.5 per cent.
• the Canada Employment Credit to provide recognition of work-related expenses;
• the new Apprenticeship Job Creation tax credit of up to $2,000 per apprentice per year;
• a tax credit for public transit passes to encourage individuals to use public transit;
• a new textbook tax credit based upon $65 for each month of full-time post-secondary study and $20 for each month of part-time post-secondary study;
• a tax exemption for post-secondary scholarship and bursary incomes;
• a new children’s fitness tax credit to promote regular exercise, balanced growth and healthy lifestyles among children.
• a $2,000 child tax credit (providing up to $310 per child of tax relief);
• ncreasing the spousal and other amounts (providing up to $209 of tax relief for a supporting spouse or single taxpayer who is supporting a child or relative);
• over $1 billion in additional tax savings annually for Canadian pensioners and seniors, including pension income splitting;
• legislating the Government’s commitment to use all interest savings from federal debt reduction each year to further reduce personal income taxes;
• setting out the amounts of fiscal equalization payments to provinces and territories under the new formula for the fiscal year beginning April 1, 2007;
• an increase in the Lifetime Capital Gains Exemption to $750,000 from $500,000;
• $2 billion in incentives for renewable fuel production over the next seven years (the operating incentive program will provide $0.10 cents/litre for domestic renewable gasoline production (ethanol) and $0.20 cents/litre for domestic renewable diesel production (biodiesel) for the first three years, then decline thereafter);
• $200 million for capital grants to encourage farmer participation, and $21 million for the BOPI program for biofuels feasibility studies;
• restoring the meal expense relief for truck drivers to Public Servant levels (from 50% to 80%); and
• modernize bankruptcy and insolvency rules to ensure full legal protection for eligible financial contracts.

“On top of these – and other – tax cuts,” concluded Benoit, “we will have also reduced the federal debt by $22.4 billion over two years. That is truly a Conservative budget.”