For Immediate Release
December 31, 2011
Vancouver – Joyce Murray, MP, Vancouver Quadra, made the following statement on the Conservative government’s increase in payroll tax increase.
“The Conservative government’s New Year’s Day increase to Employment Insurance premiums is further evidence that small and medium size businesses have been neglected by the Conservative government’s focus on large corporations.
“Many of these small and medium size businesses are struggling, and their viability will be made more difficult by this tax increase.
“I share with you the statement from Liberal Leader Bob Rae below.”
Joyce Murray, Member of Parliament
Vancouver Quadra
-30-
Contact:
Patrick Tam
613-992-2430
604-318-8419
Statement by Liberal Leader Bob Rae
Conservative Tax Hikes Take a Bite Out of the Economy in 2012
TORONTO– The Conservative government’s New Year’s Day increase to Employment Insurance premiums will slow economic growth, hurt job creation and squeeze family budgets, said Liberal Leader Bob Rae today.
“I would have thought that in 2012 the Conservatives would be focused on the economy and jobs, jobs, jobs, but starting the year with a $600 million EI premium increase clearly demonstrates their priorities lie elsewhere,” said Mr. Rae. “The Department of Finance has already slashed Canada’s 2012 economic growth forecast 25% from the projections it made a year ago, and tax hikes like this are no way to turn this trend around.”
This will be the second year in a row that the Conservatives have hiked EI premiums. As a result the average worker will pay almost $100 more this year than in 2010, and many employers will pay up to $130 more for each person they keep on staff.
“The cruel irony is that while the Conservatives are charging Canadians more for Employment Insurance, they are slowing down EI processing times so that today there are about 400,000 unemployed Canadians on a growing waiting list,” continued Mr. Rae. “There are 600,000 fewer full-time jobs in Canada than there were before the recession, and Canadians deserve to know that the insurance system they paid into will be there for them if and when they need it.”
Family wallets will also be squeezed by increasing household debt levels which have grown 55%–more than half a trillion dollars–since Stephen Harper became Prime Minister. This prompted the International Monetary Fund to issue a warning last week that any economic shock, such as a decline in commodity prices, “could result in significant job losses,” and “a protracted period of weak private consumption as households reduce their debt.”
“Unlike the Conservatives, the previous Liberal government lowered EI premiums 12 years in a row saving workers and their employers $59 billion over that time. As Canadian households face record levels of personal debt it makes no sense to take even more money out of the monthly family budget with yet another EI tax hike,” concluded Mr. Rae.
