A very interesting idea from Tony Clement, of all people!

I am certainly not qualified to evaluate whether this is economically feasible or a good idea, but a couple of thoughts occur to me.

First, there needs to be some contingency for sudden reductions in income. Suppose a person works at a reasonably-paying professional job for many years, then gets suddenly downsized in their late 40s or early 50s, just as their kids are about to head off to university. People that age often have more difficulty finding jobs, and even though their old pension plan would give them some coverage, this likely wouldn't kick in for another ten years or so. So they likely cash out a few investments to give them some money to get by with, or perhaps they have a small income fund set up at this point, but this money, of which they desperately need every cent, is being taxed at the highest tax rate just because they managed to earn a sum total of one million dollars over their lifetime. The higher taxation rate wouldn't be that much of a burden when they're working, but it could be downright punitive to a family trying to live off their savings.

There's also the issue of whether pension income would be taxed at the highest rate just because the pensioner worked their whole life. I find that idea rather distasteful.

The other problem is that I don't think this plan would accomplish what Mr. Clement is trying to accomplish. It's no secret that he's proposing this to make a Conservative party under his leadership more attractive to younger voters. Notwithstanding the fact that anyone who could vote for this couldn't benefit from it because it would only apply to people who are currently underage, young people don't pay that much tax to start with. Before I graduated from university, I paid about $50 in income tax that wasn't refunded to me, and that was due to a surfeit of scholarship that wouldn't be taxed as much under current tax law. Every other dollar of income tax, and most sales tax, that I paid as a student was refunded to me because of my low income. Even now, income tax doesn't present any burden whatsoever. If someone walked in here right now and handed me a cheque for all the tax I've ever paid that hasn't been refunded yet, it would not improve my lifestyle in any way whatsoever. The money would probably go into the condo fund, but it wouldn't bring me any more than a few months closer to condo ownership (and the ETA for the condo fund is 8-10 years). Being tax-free over many years would make a more significant contribution to the condo fund of course, but it simply isn't enough to make me change my voting patterns. And since most Conservative voters are older and have more years of work behind them, therefore being subject to the highest tax rate, I doubt this would appeal to the party's core.

Still, it is a very interesting idea!