(Ottawa) — Dr. Jack Mintz, Canadian tax expert at the University of Calgary School of Public Policy, presented his paper No more second class taxpayers: How income splitting can bring fairness to Canada’s single-income families at a lunchtime briefing in Ottawa today.
The Institute of Marriage and Family Canada is a non-partisan family research think tank that has long advocated for family income splitting because lower taxes makes sense for Canadian families.
“Finances are a stressor for families today. They work, live and pay their bills together, as a family. So they should be taxed as a family,” says executive director Andrea Mrozek. “We stand in favour of this because it helps families keep more of their hard-earned money. More money means families can have more choices in how to organize their lives,” she adds.
The audience of about 70 people was made up largely of Members of Parliament and their staffers from three parties, and senators on Parliament Hill today. The Honourable John McKay and MP Stella Ambler were co-hosts alongside the Institute of Marriage and Family Canada.
The current federal government has promised family income splitting, but only after the deficit is eliminated.
Dr. Mintz’s position is that family income splitting is the most neutral and equitable way to tax families. From the paper, Dr. Mintz and his co-author Matt Krzepkowski write, “Given that Canada’s income tax system aims to treat people in similar circumstances as equally as possible, it is certainly time to let couples split their income so they do not face a penalty in higher tax rates than those faced by couples bringing home the same amount of total pay.”\
“This is not a partisan issue and it makes sense for families to pay lower taxes. As such, we hope every federal party will examine Dr. Mintz’s work closely. We are grateful to Dr. Jack Mintz, a world-renowned tax scholar, for putting meat on the bones of the federal government’s proposal,” Mrozek concludes.
An audio and video recording of the event and photos will be found online at www.imfcanada.org.
For additional information or comment, please contact: Andrea Mrozek, Executive Director at 613-565-3832, ext. 7502.
Download the press release below