Harper’s Choices 2010: Conservatives hike your taxes, cut the banks' taxes

Budgets are about choices.

And with middle-class Canadians working harder to make ends meet, Stephen Harper had an opportunity to give them some much needed relief.

But instead, he chose to increase payroll taxes that individuals and their employers pay by $19 billion. At the same time, Stephen Harper announced $5 billion in new spending to cut corporate taxes, a third of which will go exclusively to the big banks and big oil companies.

Harper’s budget means billions of dollars in tax breaks for those who need help the least, and billions in new costs on hard-working, recession-weary Canadians who need a break the most.

Canadian Restaurant and Foodservices Association

Hidden in today’s budget is the government’s plan to significantly raise employment insurance rates – which means employers will be paying a much higher price to create new jobs during the economic recovery.

Higher EI premiums will cost the restaurant and foodservice industry nearly $30 million a year starting in 2011.