Andrew Scheer's Shameful Flim-Flam Act

We know that Andrew Scheer is a sinister religious fanatic. We know that he is a crass misogynist, and an anti-gay and anti-Muslim bigot.

We know that he is a creepy demagogue, and a good friend of Ezra Levant.

We know that he believes that we should pay to have children home schooled, and that carbon taxes are the work of the devil.

But who knew that he is also a flim-flam man?



A shameless Con artist who would accuse the Liberal government of attacking the middle class with its proposed tax changes. 

Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer rallied his MPs Thursday by taking aim at the Liberals' planned tax changes, saying Prime Minister Justin Trudeau cares more about billionaires than middle-class Canadians. 

In public remarks before a meeting of his caucus in Winnipeg, Scheer said of Trudeau that people "believed he was going to be the great defender of the middle class — a message he sold so well — and yet he's hurting the very people he claimed to help."

When in fact the proposed tax changes are all about levelling the playing field. 

As more and more people set up corporations, there is a growing number of individuals who have access to tax advantages not available to other hard-working Canadians.

The average income in Canada is estimated to be about $49,000 this year. An incorporated professional earning $300,000 with a spouse and two adult children can save about $48,000 in taxes by using just one of these loopholes. What that means is an incorporated professional could be taxed at a lower rate than a salaried nurse practitioner or police officer making much less a year.

And despite what the ghastly Con propaganda machine is claiming...

Learn more:https://t.co/RClKtXClbj#cdnpoli pic.twitter.com/4ignFz18dY

— Conservative Party (@CPC_HQ) September 6, 2017

All about making it harder for the rich to avoid paying taxes. 

It turns out that Canadian high earners are particularly adept at tax avoidance: estimates for the “elasticity of taxable income” (ETI) in Canada are typically higher than those found using U.S. data

As documented by the University of Ottawa’s Michael Wolfson and his co-authors, many high-earning Canadians have made use of CCPCs to shelter a significant share of their income from personal tax. A reasonable conjecture to make is that when the Liberals increased the top personal income tax rate, many high earners simply used their CCPCs to shelter more of their income. 

The goal of the Liberals’ proposals is to throw some sand in this particular mechanism of tax avoidance, in order to reduce the elasticity of taxable income.

So how is the flim-flam man Scheer reacting to all that criticism? 



Answer: by trying to smear the respected academic Michael Wolfson. 

"The key architect of this policy is now bragging about the fact that it will essentially kill the family farm," he said, "and he says that's a good thing. That's the key architect of this Liberal policy."

When in fact Wolfson is NOT the key architect of the Liberal tax changes, and did NOT brag about killing the family farm. 

Reached on Friday, Wolfson said Scheer's use of the term "architect" was "way overstated," that he'd only studied the issue of income sprinkling and that the inclusion of proposals related to capital gains and passive income were surprises to him. 

 "I am not the architect of anything beside the addition on our house," he added.

Scheer's claim that he did revolted even the Con friendly Andrew Coyne...



And what the shameless Scheer seems to be doing, is once again overplaying his hand. 

Amid this tax controversy, the greatest risk to Conservatives might be that they will overplay their hand. 

Think, for instance, of their forays into American media to complain about the Liberal government's settlement with Omar Khadr. As much as Canadians might not have liked settling with Khadr, one survey suggested they also took a dim view of such cross-border politicking.

Like he did when he stabbed Canada in the back...



Even if that might have cost our country tens of thousands of NAFTA jobs. 

And what Scheer isn't saying is that while the Liberal tax changes would recover about $250 million in tax dodger dollars.

Stephen Harper's decision to cut the GST, not once but twice for crass political reasons, has so far cost this country about $100 billion...



Money that could have been used for everything from improving medical services for the elderly, to hiring more inspectors to go after those who shelter their money in overseas tax havens.

But at least now we know that Scheer is just another Harper, who would play political games with OUR tax dollars.

A flim-flam man who cannot be trusted...



A Con artist who would destroy our values and our economy.

A sinister creeper who lies like a thief.

And one who must never under any circumstances be allowed to govern this country...