OTTAWA — For two guys who claim to have very different visions, Liberal Leader Mark Carney and Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre seem to have a lot of similar ideas. Both chose to launch their campaigns this week with promises to boost Canadians’ take-home pay by cutting back on income taxes, after Carney called an election for April 28. The prime minister made his opening move just moments after the official campaign began Sunday, announcing a plan to lower the marginal tax rate for the lowest tax bracket by one per cent. He expects the proposal to save middle class families up to $825 per year. 

Not to be outdone, Poilievre announced the next day in Brampton, Ont., he would drop the tax rate in the lowest bracket by 2.25 per cent, which he says will save families up to $1,800 per year. 

Both Carney and Poilievre say modest- and middle-income families will benefit most from the tax cut, but the NDP says it’s “so broad that it helps millionaires and billionaires” as well. Bloc Québécois Leader Yves-François Blanchet said he’s skeptical about how either party will make the finances of their plans work. “How the hell do you intend to do that?” he asked at a campaign stop in Quebec City. 

The income tax is just the latest on the Liberal and Conservative chopping block. In his first week since he was sworn in as prime minister, Carney set the consumer carbon tax to zero and definitively ended plans to hike the capital gains tax—both of which Poilievre had promised to cut.

Neither party has accounted for how they plan to make up the lost revenue, even as both vow to drive down government deficits. Carney’s income tax proposal would reduce tax revenue by about $5.9 billion, according to a new online tool published by the Parliamentary Budget Officer. The tool doesn’t factor in a tax cut as deep as the one Poilievre proposes, but shows it would cost the federal coffers more than $12 billion. Neither party has yet released its full platform and how it plans to pay for it.

During his Liberal leadership campaign, Carney said he would balance the government’s operating budget for things like program costs and public servant salaries over three years, to make room for personal income tax cuts. He has made no such promises for capital spending, which he plans to put toward housing, energy infrastructure, new trade corridors and defence. The new accounting plan is such a departure from the way Ottawa tracks federal spending that experts are unsure how far off the budget is from Carney’s goal.

One of Poilievre’s key slogan-style promises is to “fix the budget” and bring it into balance “as soon as possible,” though he hasn’t offered specific timelines or targets. He said he will pay for the tax cut by slashing the number of public servants, foreign aid and spending on consultants. At roughly $15.5 billion, Ottawa’s entire foreign aid budget wouldn’t cover the cost of all the proposals Poilievre has already said he would use that money to fund.