Meanwhile, in the last Parliament the Liberal government passed a budget that reduced income taxes from 16% to 15% on the first tax bracket and also increased the personal exemption by $500. The savings to the average Canadian family making $60,000 with two children was about $400, which will probably be cut. That family would have to spend $40,000 on taxable goods to get the same tax savings. (According to Mr. Paul Szabo (Mississauga South, Lib.), as quoted in Hansard Address by Pierre Lemieux, MP for Glengarry-Prescott-Russell, Response to the Speech from the Throne, April 3, 2006, page 5)
Lowering income taxes means *only* those "hard-working honest Canadians" that actually declare their income get to keep some of their hard-earned money. Reducing the GST means *all* Canadians get to keep some of their money. Sounds good in the media.
But what does this mean to our society? Those who will benefit most are the rich and the crooks. An income tax is a disincentive for declaring your revenue - it only hurts those that choose to declare their meagre incomes; meanwhile money hidden away in the black market or offshore accounts can't be touched. A sales tax skims everybody evenly: if you want to save for a rainy day, it costs you nothing now; if you want to buy big expensive toys right now, you pay more.
I believe this is a short-sighted communications (public relations) attempt, since repetition is the key to a successful marketing campaign, like water dripping on a rock: Everybody pays the GST several times a day, but only a much smaller population segment pays income tax, which happens only once a year.
In the end, I guess people prefer to get screwed with a smile than looked after with responsibility.
