Lower Corporate Taxes not in my Economic Plan

Scrooge McDuck celebrates
Harper's corporate tax plan

I suspect that there are quite a few of us out here that have never thought, "What is good for business is good for Canadians." There are just too many examples out there that fly in the face of that axiom. The trickle down theory, just doesn't work.

The Harper Conservatives have made continuing tax cuts to big business the center-point of their campaign. They are trying to get Canadians to believe that, for example, despite obscene increases in oil company's profits, that sector needs yet again more cuts to the taxes they pay. Harper's Finance Minister, Jim Flaherty says that "...business leaders...have widely endorsed tax cuts as a job creation tool."  Come Jim, how dumb are you? What else would business say

In 2000 the corporate tax rate was 42%. Under the "Harper Government" they are down to 28% on their way to a goal of 25%. I would suspect that most Canadians are asking why, in this economic downturn more and more of the tax burden falls onto the backs of Canadian families. Harper says because his plan creates jobs.

I was happy to see that the Globe & Mail put the Harper gang's mantra, to the test.

What was revealed is that instead of investing all that new found cash into expansion and machinery which would create new jobs, business investment has decreased, in line with those cuts. Rather that acting as the custodians of  the economy, business has squirreled away billions and billions of dollars conjuring up images of business leader acting less like Daddy Warbucks, and more like Scrooge McDuck.

I am not against helping out business get ahead. There are plenty of good corporate citizens out there but, "no strings attached" tax cuts, is simply put, a dumb move.