May 2, 2000 -- Corporations are the big winners. They get a down payment of $1 billion towards an eventual cut of $3.95 billion.
The budget turns over $2.5 billion in personal income tax cuts - $1 billion to the highest-income 10% of taxpayers.
Debt reduction gets $1 billion, with another $1 billion for debt reduction hidden in Ministry budgets.
$1 billion would avoid any further cuts to public education, and provide significant new funding to offset past cuts
$.75 billion would restore social assistance rates to their 1995 levels; eliminate the provincial claw-back of the National Child Benefit Supplement
$.75 billion would put Ontario back in the affordable housing business, creating over 5,000 units of affordable housing a year.
$.75 billion would make a solid start on a real Early Years Program combined with a major expansion of child care spaces and the introduction of $5/day child care.
It's all about priorities
The tax give-aways
$3.95 billion in tax cuts for corporations over the next 5 years; $1 billion of it this year.
$2.5 billion in on-going tax personal income tax cuts; $1 billion of the cut will go to the highest-income 10% of Ontario taxpayers.
A cut of 1/3 in capital gains taxation
68% of taxable capital gains are received by the 2.9% of Ontario taxpayers with incomes above $100,000
58% of gains are received by the 1.3% with incomes over $150,000
45% of gains are received by the 0.5% with incomes over $250,000
A $1 billion one-time only personal income tax give-away (maximum of $200 per taxpayer).
The spending priorites
An increase in health care spending, compared with 1999-2000, of $49 million - an increase of 0.0000002%.
NOTHING for housing.
A fifth year of no increases for people receiving social assistance. That puts their purchasing power 27.5% below where it was when the Conservatives took office.
A cut of over $100 million - more than 30% - from the budget of the Ministry of Environment.
What about "investing in children"?
$210 per child, for single parent families - $10 million per year for five years - BUT - only if it is matched by the Federal Government.
$54 million for a variety of children's programs in health, sports and recreation.
Only $32 million in ongoing funding for a total of 5 new programs
$22 million in one-time only money, spread over as many as four years
A re-announcement of the Early Years Challenge Fund ($30 million, not counted in the total above)
$254 million for education - an increase of 1.5%
$101 million for a partial reversal of previous cuts to junior kindergarten
$70 million in additional special education funding
$70 million for a primary reading program
$5 million for a prevention program for children at risk off abuse
The $254 million for education compares with a cut, in real per student terms, of $1.7 billion.
Get More/Do More
For more information about the Ontario Alternative Budget, contact:
Hugh Mackenzie, 416-544-5970: hmackenzie@uswa.ca
Andrea Calver, 416-441-3714: ocsj@sympatico.ca
Ross McClellan, 416-443-7687: rmcclellan@ofl-fto.on.ca
Background information about the Alternative Budget is on the OFL web site at: www.ofl-fto.on.ca
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