Torys Tax plan Dumb Economics

The Toronto Sun(!) is reporting that the Federal Tory's first idea out of the gate in their 2006 campaign - to cut the GST is flawed.

The unpopular Harper yesterday pledged to shave two percentage points off the goods and services tax -- one right away, the second within five years. 'For an average family of four with an income of $60,000 a year, this would mean about $400 less in taxes -- savings they will see every time they go to the gas station, the shopping mall or a restaurant,' Harper said in Mississauga. The cut would cost the federal treasury $4.5 billion for each percentage point trimmed from the GST -- a move Finance Minister Ralph Goodale dismissed as 'really dumb economics.'