‘Liberal Green Shift Plan’

It gives me great pleasure to provide the basics of the ‘Liberal Green Shift Plan’.
ISSUE
• The Liberal Green Shift plan will cut income taxes, put a price on pollution, fight poverty and position Canada to be a leader in the 21st century sustainable global economy.
KEY MESSAGES
• The Green Shift is bold, and it is the right thing to do.
• Our plan is as powerful as it is simple. We will cut taxes on those things we all want more of such as income, investment and innovation, and we will shift those taxes to what we all want less of: pollution, greenhouse gas emissions and waste.
• We need to take action for both the environment and the economy. Our plan is good for the planet and good for your wallet.
• Canada must be a leader in tackling the climate change crisis, which is the greatest ecological threat to ever face humanity.
• Canadians deserve a government that will be honest with them, put good ideas on the table, quickly put a price on pollution that reflects its real costs to us all, and bring forward a plan to help Canada succeed in the 21 st -century global economy. We will be that government.
• The Conservatives have done nothing for more than two critical years. They have no plan for absolute reductions of greenhouse gas emissions and no plan for the 21st century economy.
• The time has come to do what is right – not what is easy – for our environment and for our future.
HOW IT WORKS
• Environmentalists and economists agree that the best way to reduce greenhouse gas emissions is to put a price on carbon.
• Under the Liberal Green Shift Plan, the government will put a price on fossil fuels, like coal and natural gas, starting at $10 per tonne of carbon dioxide and rising to $40 per tonne over four years.
• No new taxes will be levied on gasoline at the pump, since there is already an excise tax in place which equates to $42 per tonne of carbon dioxide.
• Our plan will shift Canada’s tax system away from income and towards pollution, and in a revenue-neutral way – putting it in law that every dollar that is raised from carbon pollution will be returned to Canadians in tax cuts.
• Using the revenue generated through carbon pricing, a Liberal government will introduce broad-based and progressive income tax cuts, and implement measures to protect low-income Canadians and those who live in rural and Northern communities from rising energy costs. These include:
o Significant cuts to the first three marginal rates of income tax;
o A new, universal child tax benefit worth $350 per child, per year, on top of all existing child benefits;
o An $850 increase to the Employment tax credit (from $1000 to $1850) which will also be made fully refundable. The credit will now be phased out at an income level of $50,000 per year;
o An increase to the value of the Working Income Tax Benefit to help low-income Canadians get over the welfare wall;
o Tax incentives for business to encourage investment in green technology and innovation;
o An increase to the Northern Residents Deduction, and indexation going forward; and
o A credit worth $150 for every rural tax-filer.
• In addition to the Green Shift, Liberals will offer targeted benefits financed from the existing fiscal framework to help lift low-income Canadians out of poverty, including a $600 increase to the GIS for seniors, and benefits for low-income Canadian families.
• Our plan will also attract businesses to our sustainable, green economy with one of the most competitive tax jurisdictions in the world. We will:
o accelerate and deepen the currently planned corporate tax cuts, reducing the general corporate tax rate by an additional one per cent within four years;
o reduce the small business corporate tax rate by an additional one per cent, to help Canadian to lead the way in the development of new technologies and products for the green economy;
o accelerate capital cost allowance rates for green investments to help spur industry investments in green technologies; and
o make the Science, Research & Experimental Development (SR&ED) tax credit 25 per cent refundable to spur further innovation in developing the new products that will keep Canada competitive.
• The Liberal Green Shift Plan complements other Liberal commitments to green our economy, such as:
o the Renewable Power Production Incentive that will more than double the non-emitting energy sources available to Canadians;
o the $1-billion Advanced Manufacturing and Prosperity (AMP) Fund that will stimulate green manufacturing;
o the major Infrastructure Surplus commitment to upgrade our sustainable infrastructure such as public transit through unanticipated surpluses; and
o complementary regulations and incentives to Canadians for home retrofits, energy efficient appliances and vehicles, low carbon farm and forestry practices and other ways to help Canadians reduce their environmental footprint.

For details of ‘Green Shift Plan’ check liberal.ca or call
Michael Cormican, Liberal Candidate, 381-7635