Some needed attention

Since the real damage done to public finances by reckless corporate tax slashing seems to be virtually ignored by most of the corporate press, full credit goes to the Star for actually pointing it out:

Faced with skyrocketing debts, the federal Conservatives say they will begin cutting spending on government programs in the March 4 budget. But the massive corporate tax cuts that are deepening Ottawa's deficit hole every year will not be touched, officials say.

Despite a record annual budget deficit of $56 billion, Finance Minister Jim Flaherty will look elsewhere in a bid to start putting the federal government's financial house back in order.

In fact, the government is expected to continue phasing in deeper business tax reductions over the next few years.

In all, between 2008 and 2013, these cuts are reducing the cash-strapped federal government's tax take by a cumulative $60 billion.

While these major tax savings for business have attracted little public attention, they are an important factor in the financial mess that has arisen since Prime Minister Stephen Harper's Conservatives took power.

For the next step, it would be all the better to see the Cons' free-riding "sacred cows" placed side by side with the public servants whose benefits are being attacked with a message that everybody needs to share in some pain. But at least pointing out that the corporate sector is being handed billions in tax savings even as the federal government is mired in red ink makes for a start.