Tom Mulcair is counting on revenue from a promised corporate tax hike to help pay for his other pricey platform planks — but that may not give him enough extra money to work with.
The NDP leader has not yet spelled out precisely how high he would boost the federal corporate tax rate, which currently stands at 15%
But Mulcair earlier this month said he would impose "a slight and graduated increase" that would still be "far below the average that the Conservatives had for the 10 years that they've been in power."
The average rate under Stephen Harper's government is 17.5%. If Mulcair really intends to stay "far below" that, he's looking at something like a one-percentage-point increase — maybe two, if one stretches the definition of "far below." And he's now saying even that small hike would be phased in over a number of years.
Once fully implemented, that would mean at most an additional $3 billion flowing into federal coffers annually, based on the NDP's estimate that each percentage point increase in the corporate tax rate would add $1.5 billion in revenue.
Experts say it might just be enough to offset the revenue loss caused by the steep and continuing slide in oil prices — which has the parliamentary budget officer predicting a $1-billion federal deficit this year, notwithstanding Conservative promises to the contrary.
But there'd be nothing left over to pay for the new spending Mulcair is proposing on things like a $5-billion national child care plan or restoring some $36 billion in health care transfers to the provinces.
Mulcair has hinted in the past that he was originally contemplating a bigger corporate tax hike that would net far more cash.
Two months ago, he said an NDP government would boost the federal corporate tax rate to "the 18 to 19% range" — that is, a three- or four-point hike.
