Criticized by the opposition, the decision to pay a check for $ 500 to the vast majority of taxpayers was the best solution to help households cope with soaring inflation, defended the Minister of Finance, Eric Girard, during a speech before the Board of Trade of Metropolitan Montreal on Monday.
“When you’re Minister of Finance, you maximize under constraint and uncertainty,” said the Minister to the audience made up of business people. That is to say, we make the best measurement in sub-optimal circumstances. »
The flagship measure of the budget unveiled last week, the government will pay a check for $500 to taxpayers earning $100,000 or less to help them absorb higher-than-expected inflation. The measure affects 6.4 million people.
The decision was decried by the opposition, which accuses the measure of being “electoralist”. The opposition parties also questioned the relevance of granting assistance to taxpayers with incomes of up to $100,000, or even more if we consider the tax deduction for the contribution to the RRSP.
Mr. Girard considers, for his part, that the compensation of $500 is not electioneering. He points out that Revenu Québec was instructed to pay the $500 from the returns processed on March 23. “I can’t be further from the election than that. I can’t give the $500 until I announce it. »
The measure was “superior to all that was proposed”, judges the minister. He compared it to the proposals to freeze electricity rates or lower consumption taxes “which we should have raised afterwards”.
Too many checks?
Desjardins Group’s chief economist, Jimmy Jean, believes, however, that the Legault government should have offered support to a smaller pool of households. “Let’s not lose sight of the fact that middle- and high-income households still have a large savings surplus,” he commented in a note published on Friday. They have options available to them and do not need government assistance. »
The government helps lower-income households more when we take into account the measures announced last November during the economic update, replied Mr. Girard in an interview after his speech. Made in January, another contribution of $400 for a couple or $275 for a person living alone was intended for 3.3 million taxpayers, he pointed out.
With its budget, the government wanted the new measure to be extended to more people. “It’s a question of reaching as many people as possible on a basic consumption basket, that is to say the first $25,000 of consumption. »