Federal taxes will have to rise to pay off Canada's burgeoning deficit, but not at the expense of economic recovery, Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff said Tuesday.
The Conservative Party quickly jumped on Mr. Ignatieff's comments, highlighting them at the top of their website.
“We will have to raise taxes,” but not at the expense of hurting the recovery from this recession, Mr. Ignatieff, on a four-day tour of Southwestern Ontario, told a meeting of the Cambridge Chamber of Commerce.
“An honest politician” cannot exclude a tax hike as an option, Mr. Ignatieff said in response to a question from Cambridge, Ont., business leader John Bell, who wanted to known when the federal debt will be paid back.
The Liberal playbook says you promise to lower taxes, then wait until after you are elected to raise them. Silly boy.
The back peddling started pretty quickly though:
Michael O'Shaughnessy, Mr. Ignatieff's press secretary, said later that the party has “no plan and no desire to raise taxes” in a recession.
Hat tip: Pat
One should at least appreciate his candor, I suppose.
ReplyDeleteWhat good does he think it does for the economy if one of Canada's prospective leaders won't tell the market what his tax plans are?