If the Reform party had written last week’s federal budget, its main appeal to the farm community would be the promise of lower taxes, says the party agriculture spokesperson.
“Our goal would be to balance the budget by 1999 and in the remainder of our term to pass on tax relief to all Canadians, including the agriculture sector,” Saskatchewan Reform MP Elwin Hermanson said in an interview.
“That’s the way you give farmers the tools to make money and that’s how we create jobs for our young people in rural areas.”
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After criticizing the Liberal budget, with its deficit reduction successes plus targeted spending commitments in rural Canada, social policy and health care, Hermanson was asked how a Reform budget would be different.
Things would be different
He said had Reform been in power as long as the Liberals, there would be no deficit now and taxes could be reduced.
“But at this point, we have to start from where we are so we would balance the budget quickly,” he said.
Hermanson said a Reform government would cut $15 billion from federal spending within two years. This would include some further cuts to the Agriculture Canada budget, but only to eliminate administrative duplication, he said.
Then, with the government much smaller and the budget balanced, farmers and other Canadians would receive some tax relief.
Taxes would be lowered on fuel, inputs and income, he said, adding that the knowledge Reform would balance the budget quickly and cut taxes would stimulate the entire economy, including agriculture.
