Trudeau under fire for saying low-income Canadians 'don't pay taxes'

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For the second day in a row, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is under fire for comments about low-income Canadians and the amount of taxes they pay.

“We see proof that the Conservatives simply don’t understand that low-income families don’t benefit from tax breaks because they don’t pay taxes,” said Trudeau in question period on Tuesday.

The statement was in response to a comment made by Conservative MP Pierre Poilievre criticizing the Liberals for eliminating the child fitness tax credit introduced by the previous Harper government.

It was not immediately clear what definition of low-income Trudeau was using, although observers noted that income taxes kick in at around $12,000 per year and that every income bracket shells out for other fees like sales taxes and the new carbon tax.

The Conservatives were quick to pounce on Trudeau’s statement, saying it’s an example of the PM being out of touch with regular Canadians.

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“I receive dozens of calls and hundreds of e-mails daily from people in the Toronto area (and all across Canada) who have had enough of this PM and his tax increases,” wrote Bob Saroya, Conservative MP for Markham-Unionville.

Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer brought up the issue in question period on Tuesday, engaging in a heated back and forth with Trudeau over the respective parties’ approaches to tax policy.

“He took away the text book credit,” Scheer said, referring to a Harper-era policy the Trudeau government removed. “Does he believe there are no low-income students?

“The Prime Minister has other people manage his family fortune so it’s no surprise he doesn’t understand how the tax system works,” Scheer added during the exchange that saw uproar from both sides of the aisle.

“While we continue to stay focused on Canadians, Conservatives continue to stay focused on how I grew up,” Trudeau shot back.

Trudeau repeatedly argued that eliminating tax credits was ultimately better for Canadians because the middle class were paying less income tax and receiving the Canada Child Benefit. Shortly after coming into power, the Trudeau government reduced the second-lowest income tax rate from 22% to 20.5%.

However, a 2017 report from the Fraser Institute says that while the income tax rate did decrease, because of the elimination of past tax credits, 81% of middle-class families are ultimately paying higher taxes.