Queen's University law professor Kathleen Lahey is available to talk about Stephen Harper's proposed income splitting plan.
Professor Lahey, who is an expert in tax law and who has conducted extensive research on income splitting, says the proposal will only benefit couples with one reasonably high income, which is statistically a man with a stay-at-home wife and children. Prof. Lahey points out that such programs always give couples incentives for women to stay out of the workforce – and then create huge tax barriers to any future decision to return to work.
"When the Reform Party became the official opposition back in the late 1990s, it immediately demanded that special hearings be held on the merits of income splitting. A special committee struck to investigate this scheme recommended against it because it would be costly ($4 billion for 1998), discriminatory, unfair, and economically counter-productive - it would use government revenues to induce educated and experienced workers to withdraw from paid work instead of remaining engaged in the labour market," says Professor Lahey.
Professor Lahey teaches taxation at the Faculty of Law and is author of Women, Substantive Equality, and Fiscal Policy.
To arrange an interview, please contact communication officers Michael Onesi at 613.533.6000 ext. 77513 or michael.onesi@queensu.ca or Christina Archibald at 613-533-2877 or Christina.Archibald@queensu.ca at Queen’s University News and Media Services Department in Kingston, Ont., Canada.
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