Canadian Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre is promising a deeper income tax cut than Liberal Leader Mark Carney, as the two politicians compete in a tight election race to attract voters struggling with the cost of living.

Poilievre said Monday he’d slash the rate for the lowest income bracket by 2.25 percentage points to 12.75 per cent if elected. The announcement followed Carney’s pledge on Sunday to drop the rate by one percentage point to 14 per cent.

“Everywhere I go, Canadians tell me the same thing — life has never been more expensive,” Poilievre said in a statement ahead of a campaign stop in Brampton, Ont. “You’re working harder, but your work doesn’t pay like it used to, and it feels like you’re falling further behind.”

Carney called a snap election on Sunday to seek a stronger mandate to fight United States President Donald Trump’s trade war after replacing Justin Trudeau as Liberal leader this month. Canadians will cast their ballots on April 28.

Under Poilievre’s proposal, the average worker earning $57,000 would save $900, with two-income households saving $1,800 annually. Carney’s “middle-class tax cut” will save double-income families up to $825.

Poilievre’s plan would cost the federal books at least $12 billion, while Carney’s would remove about $6 billion in revenue, according to parliamentary budget officer estimates. The government has projected a $48.3 billion deficit for this fiscal year.

Asked how the tax cut would be funded, Poilievre told reporters his party will release a costed election platform that will include details of his fiscal plan. He repeated that he plans to find one dollar in savings for every dollar of new spending, while cutting expenditures on consultants and foreign aid and reducing government waste.

“We will be cutting bureaucracy,” Poilievre said.

Both Poilievre and Carney have also pledged to boost spending on infrastructure and defence. The Conservative leader has promised to find one dollar in savings for every dollar of new spending, while Carney has proposed splitting the budget in two — an operating budget that the government would balance, and a capital-spending budget that would carry a modest deficit.

Carney, who replaced Justin Trudeau as party leader earlier this month, said Poilievre’s tax policy would necessitate deep cuts, putting Liberal programs including subsidized child care, dental care and prescription drug coverage at risk.

“Yes, we want Canadians to have more money in their pockets. That’s why we have a middle-class tax cut. But at the same time, we have these supports for the most vulnerable in our society,” Carney told reporters in Gander, Newfoundland.

The fiscal outlook gets rewritten regardless of whether Conservatives or Liberals take the helm after the election, said Rebekah Young, head of inclusion and resilience economics at Bank of Nova Scotia.

“Vying candidates will set out policy platforms to guide the country not only through the coming quarters, but years ahead,” she said Monday in a report to investors. “Canadians are hardly preoccupied with the federal deficit right now as affordability, trade tensions and health care dominate minds and hearts.”

—With assistance from Erik Hertzberg.

Bloomberg.com