Senators’ bid to amend Trudeau’s signature tax bill ruled out of order

OTTAWA — A bid by the Senate finance committee to amend the Trudeau government’s signature income tax bill has been ruled out of order.

Speaker George Furey has ruled that unelected senators don’t have the constitutional authority to rejig the tax brackets in Bill C-2.

The bill delivers on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s campaign promise to reduce the tax load for the middle class while making the wealthiest pay more.

It formalizes changes to income tax brackets that actually went into effect last Jan. 1, when the fledgling Liberal government reduced the tax rate to 20.5 per cent from 22 per cent on income between $45,000 and $90,000 and imposed a new tax rate of 33 per cent on income above $200,000.