Ottawa, ON: In its pre-budget submission to the House of Commons Finance Committee, the Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF) called on the Harper government to pay down the federal debt.

“After pushing the debt past the $600 billion mark, it’s time to pay it down,” said CTF Federal Director Gregory Thomas. “We shouldn’t pass the burden of that mountain of debt on to future generations.”

The CTF conducted a survey of our supporters in mid-September – 5,500 of them responded. 53 per cent said that paying down the debt was their top priority for what to do with a surplus while 44 per cent favoured tax cuts. Only 2 per cent wanted to see more federal spending.

“Our supporters are clearly not comfortable with a debt reduction target expressed as an arbitrary ratio of debt-to-GDP,” added Thomas. “They want Canada to achieve national debt freedom.” 

The CTF is also calling for broad based tax relief. The Conservative government has lowered taxes, but often with boutique tax cuts that complicated the tax system.

“Canada should move to a lower, simpler and flatter tax system,” said Thomas. “Reducing income tax rates, eliminating most tax deductions and credits and reducing the number of tax brackets would spur economic growth and make for a fairer tax system.”

Among the other reforms the CTF is calling for in its pre-budget submission are to transform Employment Insurance into a personal rainy-day savings account, reform Equalization payments, shutter pork-barreling regional development agencies and curb excessive pay, benefits and paid leave for federal government employees.

To see the complete CTF pre-budget submission, click HERE.