Fact check: Trudeau cut middle class tax rate from 22% to 20.5%

1. Summary of the results

1. Summary of the results

The statement is factually accurate. The Trudeau government did implement a tax rate reduction from 22% to 20.5% in 2016 for incomes between $45,282 and $90,563.

2. Missing context/alternative viewpoints

The original statement omits several crucial pieces of context:

• This tax cut was part of a larger tax policy that simultaneously increased taxes on those earning over $200,000
• The Department of Finance reported that while 9 million Canadians benefited, the average savings were modest: $330/year for individuals and $540/year for couples
• Economist Stephen Gordon and others have challenged whether this was truly a "middle-class" tax cut, as it only benefited those making over $45,000, with the largest benefits actually going to the top 10% of income earners
• The tax cut was part of a broader Liberal strategy that included other measures like the Canada Child Benefit

3. Potential misinformation/bias in the original statement

While technically accurate, the statement's simplicity could be misleading because:

• It presents the tax cut in isolation, without mentioning the corresponding tax increase on higher earners
• The term "middle class" is potentially misleading since those making under $45,282 received no benefit
• It doesn't acknowledge that the greatest beneficiaries were actually higher-income earners within the affected bracket
• The statement could lead readers to assume this was a standalone policy rather than part of a larger economic strategy

The Liberal Party benefits from presenting this as a straightforward middle-class tax cut, while critics and economists point out that the benefits were not as broadly distributed across the middle class as the simple statement suggests.