With his personal approval rating plummeting into single digits, British Columbia Liberal Premier Gordon Campbell surprised the province this week by announcing a 15% decrease in income tax. I welcome any lowering of any tax, but this move smells like desperation. Where is he getting the extra money to lower income tax? Didn't the Liberals say that the HST is supposed to be revenue neutral? Now that I think of it, they also jacked up the carbon tax when they unveiled the HST, so that carbon cash cow might be paying for the income tax cut.
I know that some Liberals want to stick the blame for the wildly unpopular tax on the Conservative government in Ottawa, but you might remember that the Tories gave Campbell the option of not adding 7% tax to previously untaxed goods. The harmonization is unpopular because a whole lot of things cost more, not because the money is going to be redirected through Ottawa.
Now is when we see exactly how many British Columbians can be bribed with their own money; the sad part is, BC is now in the same situation as Quebec is; no matter WHICH of the main parties they vote for, they know they're going to get screwed over for it.
ReplyDeleteAnon, That is ridiculous. BC is in a much better fiscal position than Quebec. BC's Premier was just called the best fiscal manager by the Fraser Institute. The worst was Dalton McGuinty followed closely by Charest. Also this is not tightly targeted subsidy or payoff. This is a broad-based tax cut that shows respect for taxpayers. Respect that is sorely lacking nearly everywhere else.
ReplyDeleteRick
Rick, if Campbell was such a good "fiscal manager", why did he feel the need to tell obvious lies about the HST before springing it on voters in the first place? Anyone who can read a calendar realizes that this was in the works long before the LIEberals rolled it out after being elected, so this was clearly a case of Campbell thinking "Hey, no problem; we'll keep it quiet until after we're safely in power and THEN rape the taxpayer, because everyone is so afraid of being raped by the Dippers instead." If Campbell gave a damn about the taxpayer, he would have been honest about this in the first place.
ReplyDelete