Voters divided on 8% sales tax

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 11/04/2016 (3561 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The surprise provincial sales tax increase in 2013 sparked a mutiny among some NDP cabinet ministers and came close to ending Greg Selinger’s party leadership last year.

Progressive Conservative Leader Brian Pallister draws cheers wherever he promises to reduce the PST to seven per cent from eight per cent if his party forms the government April 19.

But a Winnipeg Free Press/CTV telephone poll of 1,000 Manitobans conducted by Probe Research from March 28 to April 4 found the province is split on the PST issue.

Probe president Scott MacKay said a slight majority of Manitobans — 48 per cent — support keeping the PST at eight per cent, while 44 per cent want to see it reduced.

MacKay said only two per cent of Manitobans would support a further increase to the PST.

“The PST increase was the lightning rod,” he said.

“It was the moment you could put your finger on something. It came out of the blue. It was a broken promise. When the history books are written about the NDP, the PST will have a whole chapter on it.

“But there really isn’t a public consensus on this. Even a whole swath of people going to vote Tory say just ‘leave it.’”

MacKay said 56 per cent of post-secondary graduates and 66 per cent of those planning to vote NDP favour keeping the PST at eight per cent.

He said 55 per cent of those with a Grade 12 education or less, 55 per cent of people planning to vote Tory, and 53 per cent of those planning to vote Liberal said they support returning the PST to seven per cent.

But MacKay said even within Tory ranks, a significant minority — 40 per cent — are in favour of keeping the PST where it is.

“Some elections are like a referendum, like free trade was in 1988,” he said of the pivotal federal election that gave Brian Mulroney a second term as prime minister.

“This election doesn’t seem to be anything like that. The PST is not that. It’s just one of the things.”

Chris Lorenc, president of the Manitoba Heavy Construction Association, said while his members are beneficiaries of the increase to the PST because the money helps pave more streets, construct more highways and build other infrastructure, they believe the public has a right to determine the level of the PST.

“It really is up to the public to decide their priority and needs,” Lorenc said.

‘When the history books are written about the NDP, the PST will have a whole chapter on it’

“We advocate the transparency of revenue streams. April 19 is as such a referendum on the current government and what the government elected may choose to do with the PST or any other tax.”

Loren Remillard, executive vice-president of the Winnipeg Chamber of Commerce, said he’s not surprised Manitobans are divided on the PST.

“It does validate our view that this issue should have been taken to Manitobans when it was first proposed,” Remillard said.

Winnipeg Free Press | Newsletter

Sunday Passages

Sundays

Kevin Rollason’s Sunday newsletter honouring and remembering lives well-lived in Manitoba.

Sign up for Sunday Passages

Sign Up

I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement.

“We could have had a much more substantial and meaningful discussion in the community about this. Manitobans are split on this, but we should have discussed this a while back.

“Manitobans recognize we do have a significant infrastructure deficit that we can no longer afford to ignore.”

Todd MacKay, prairie director of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, said because the poll found only two per cent of Manitobans would support a further increase the PST, he’s focusing on the 98 per cent of Manitobans who don’t want the PST to increase again.

“The problem isn’t that the government doesn’t have enough money,” MacKay said. “The problem is it spends more money than it takes in. Even with the PST increase, the deficit went up. The government is still spending too much money.”

kevin.rollason@freepress.mb.ca

Kevin Rollason
Reporter

Kevin Rollason is a general assignment reporter at the Free Press. He graduated from Western University with a Masters of Journalism in 1985 and worked at the Winnipeg Sun until 1988, when he joined the Free Press. He has served as the Free Press’s city hall and law courts reporter and has won several awards, including a National Newspaper Award. Read more about Kevin.

Every piece of reporting Kevin produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press‘s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press’s history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates.