Changes to tax-free savings accounts would affect government revenues and “alter the distribution of benefits toward higher income and wealth households,” says the Parliamentary Budget Officer.
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Tax relief measure would benefit rich: economist

A tax change promised by the Conservative government would not be justified “on either economic or equity grounds,” says Rhys Kesselman, an economist working with the left-leaning think-tank, the Broadbent Institute. In the last election, the Conservatives promised to double the amount people could put into a special savings account where growth is protected from taxation.

The so-called tax-free savings account or TFSA was designed to encourage and help Canadians to save money for retirement. A new study suggests that doubling the allowable yearly deposit would benefit the wealthy and leave other Canadian dealing with the resulting decrease in government revenues.

Changes ‘regressive,’ says Parliamentary Budget Officer

“Regressive” is how Canada’s Parliamentary Budget Office characterizes the proposed changes to the TFSA program.  He says the program benefits “skew to higher income, higher wealth and older households.”

A previous tax measure passed by this government was also criticized for benefitting the rich. The income-splitting measure allows a high-earning person to attribute some of that salary to a spouse to reduce his or her overall taxation rate.

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