Something to keep in mind on 'Tax Freedom Day'

Linda McQuaig has really nailed it.

The Fraser Institute's so-called 'Tax Freedom Day' is a less than honest accounting of how much tax we pay.

Some highlights:

"The institute's own numbers show that, for low-income earners, Tax Freedom Day would arrive in late February; for the huge group of those who straddle the middle range of incomes, Tax Freedom Day would arrive by mid-April."

and

"Failing to mention the extra government benefits we now receive is like complaining the family's Loblaw's bill is 40 per cent higher, without acknowledging the family now gets a lot more groceries on each shopping trip."

I'm sure that 'Tax Freedom Day' is going to be one of the CPC's attack points now that the NDP budget has passed. Monte Solberg has already started the propaganda (with nice responses here and here) . So feel free to inform our conservative friends and supporters of these facts when they bring them up.

Now why would I take Linda McQuaig's opinion over that of the Fraser Institute? She just a Left-Wing shill, right? How about her co-author:

Neil Brooks teaches tax law and policy at Osgoode Hall Law School.

Mr. Brooks might know a thing or two about tax law and policy in Canada. And, as a tenured professor at one of the best Law Schools in the country, I doubt he'd put his name to anything that he, or Osgoode Hall, was not willing to stand by.

In reality most of us missed 'Tax Freedom Day' - it was in April. Incidently, 'Corporate Tax Freedom Day' is in late January. Something else to keep in mind when people talk about the need for corporate tax breaks.