10% PST allegations 100% fantasy By: Tom Brodbeck Posted: 7:00 PM CDT Tuesday, May. 9, 2023

Opinion

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 09/05/2023 (852 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The most obvious reason the NDP would not raise the province’s sales tax to 10 per cent if it wins the next election — as alleged by Tory Premier Heather Stefanson last week — is it would almost certainly make it a one-term government.

It’s unlikely NDP Leader Wab Kinew, who could become Manitoba’s next premier, would be willing to test that hypothesis, even if he were inclined to raise taxes that much.

Stefanson said during a Manitoba Chambers of Commerce economic summit that if the NDP win the Oct. 3 provincial election, the party would increase the PST to 10 per cent from its current seven.

She first made the claim last month, during the PC party’s annual general meeting. “I’m not making anything up,” Stefanson told reporters last week.

Actually, she is.

The 10 per cent figure is pure fabrication.

Not even the most rogue NDP MLA has suggested, hinted or implied the party may jack up the PST to 10 per cent — or by any amount. The party has not advocated raising any tax and there is no indication it would.

The Tories are banking on former NDP premier Greg Selinger’s PST flip-flop to lend credence to their crystal-balling.

Selinger promised during the 2011 election campaign he would not raise the PST, but broke his pledge in 2013 by increasing it to eight per cent.

He did so against strong advice from party insiders and paid a steep political price for it. The move triggered a caucus and cabinet revolt that led to his and the party’s eventual downfall.

It’s unlikely another Manitoba political party leader would willingly follow that path.

The NDP, or any future government, doesn’t have to. There is no sound economic reason to raise the PST (or any other tax in Manitoba) at this point.

Increasing the PST by three percentage points would raise more than $1 billion a year in additional revenue (about five per cent of the province’s $21.5 billion in revenue). It would be a boon to the treasury.

However, the province is already enjoying record transfer payments from Ottawa (up over $1 billion this year compared to 2022-23) and rapidly growing own-source revenues. The province doesn’t need to raise taxes.

The PC government has forced future generations to repay debt it has incurred to give today’s Manitobans a tax cut, while freezing or reducing spending on front-line services.

The NDP could cancel some of the Tories’ planned tax cuts to help balance the books sooner. That would be good policy, which most Manitobans would probably embrace.

Borrowing money to cut taxes — as the Tories have been doing over the past seven years — is reckless and anything but fiscally conservative. The PC government has forced future generations to repay debt it has incurred to give today’s Manitobans a tax cut, while freezing or reducing spending on front-line services.

It’s terrible policy, and one of the main reasons the Tories are likely headed for the opposition benches in October.

Even the province’s own pre-budget consultations revealed Manitobans are not clamouring for tax cuts. If the NDP rolled back some of the Tories’ planned tax reductions, including the education property tax rebate, the move would be in line with the priorities of most Manitobans.

There is another reason the NDP would not likely raise the PST: it would disproportionately hurt lower-income people. Not only would that be bad policy, it would alienate a large segment of the party’s core constituency (as it did under Selinger).

Politicians regularly use scare tactics in the months leading up to elections. The NDP are just as guilty of it.

The NDP has not said what it plans to do either way. The party has committed to releasing a fully-costed financial plan before the next election, as most political parties now do.

Politicians regularly use scare tactics in the months leading up to elections. The NDP are just as guilty of it.

Its representatives claim, wrongly, during every election campaign, the Tories plan to privatize Manitoba Hydro. (A PC government sold off the former Manitoba Telephone System in 1997, after telling Manitobans it had “no plans” to do so.)

Not only is Hydro and MTS not an apples-to-apples comparison (for many economic reasons), the false claim is more than a quarter-century old. It’s a bit mouldy.

The NDP also predicts, without evidence, the Tories plan to bring in a two-tier “American-style” health-care system, which is utter nonsense.

Wouldn’t it be nice if political parties simply told voters what their own plans and ideas were instead of making up lies about their opponents?

That would be refreshing, but I’m not holding my breath.

tom.brodbeck@freepress.mb.ca