(February 28) – The Canadian Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors is praising the new federal budget’s tax-cutting measures, but it laments the lack of debt reduction.
“We are happy to see that this budget’s tax measures … make Canada’s tax environment more competitive and offer Canadians some much-needed tax relief,” said David Thibaudeau, president and CEO of CAIFA. The group is specifically pleased with the re-indexation of the tax system, which puts an end to insidious “bracket creep.”
But CAIFA blasts Ottawa for its financial planning, noting its lack of specific debt reduction. “A plan based on spending one’s earnings and using whatever is left for debt reduction has little chance for success,” Thibaudeau says. “The responsible course of action is to first make a reasonable payment toward the debt, and then spend the rest. This wasn’t done.”
Naturally CAIFA was pleased that the minister finally raised RRSP content limits, now that derivative clone funds have rendered the limit irrelevant. But it is disappointed that the contribution limits themselves were not raised.
– IE Staff