Justin Trudeau’s plan to become more popular is to give Canadians a tax break just before Christmas and then raise multiple taxes on you in the new year.
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Oh, and he wants to send you a cheque for $250 in March 2025 because you deserve a break today, or at least a few months from now.
Trudeau made his announcement in the small town of Sharon, Ont., about an hour’s drive up Hwy. 404 from Toronto.
He is pledging to take the GST off a number of key items, including children’s clothing and shoes, toys, books and prepared foods like the rotisserie chicken that’s so popular. He’s even promising to take the tax off Christmas trees – but don’t rush out to buy one just yet, the tax cut won’t come into effect until Dec. 14, less than two weeks before Christmas.
“These are things that people care about, that matter for them,” Trudeau said. “It’s time for people to get a bit of a break.”
Part of the plan is also to take the GST off beer and wine – but not spirits – and restaurant bills whether it is take out or dine in.
Of course, just 45 days after the tax holiday is over – Happy Valentine’s Day – Trudeau will up a number of taxes on April Fool’s Day.
On April 1, 2025, the carbon tax will go up by 19% from 17.6 cents a litre on gasoline to 20.9 cents a litre. The annual escalator tax on alcohol will also go up by 2% making beer, wine and spirits more expensive.
This escalator tax on alcohol has been increasing the price of booze every April 1 since 2017.
Trudeau is smart to make these moves and it shows he’s finally figured out that making everything more expensive isn’t a good political move. But giving a two-month partial tax holiday just before increasing multiple taxes that will increase the prices of the same products doesn’t show a coherent strategy to win back voters.
It’s not clear how much this will cost the government, and no price breakdown was provided. The GST alone brought in more than $51 billion in revenue last year, or roughly $4.25 billion per month. But since the tax is only being removed from some items, it’s hard to assess the impact on the federal bottom line – although it could be substantial.
“I don’t vote for press releases and press conferences,” Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre said when asked if he would vote for the measure.
It’s the right move, there is no bill that has been written, and the details are sketchy at best.
Trudeau used the terms GST and HST interchangeably during his news conference. In Alberta, there is no provincial tax so this will be just a 5% savings, in Nova Scotia, the combined HST is 15%, it’s 14.95% in Quebec, 13% in Ontario, and 12% in Manitoba.
Depending on the details of the harmonized sales tax agreement they have with the federal government, provinces may end up giving up more revenue within their jurisdiction than the federal government while Trudeau takes all the credit.
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Poilievre called the entire tax holiday plan a trick, saying Trudeau was trying to fool Canadians with a brief tax holiday over Christmas before hiking taxes in the new year.
“Nobody believes Justin Trudeau and Jagmeet Singh after they’ve impoverished our people and made life worse off,” Poilievre said.
He promised real and permanent tax relief if elected prime minister rather than Trudeau’s short-term gimmick.
NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh, Trudeau’s ongoing coalition partner said he wanted this bill – which doesn’t exist – passed as soon as possible. Singh may have “ripped up” the agreement with Trudeau, but he keeps going back to him.
All of this, by the way, was announced on a day when Abacus Data released a poll showing the Conservatives at 43% voter support, the Liberals and NDP were at 21% meaning their combined support is less than the Conservatives.
Trudeau is literally hoping to buy your vote for Christmas.