On Tuesday of this week the Leader of the Progressive Conservative Party, Hugh McFadyen, introduced legislation in the Manitoba Legislature that would eliminate the vote tax subsidy that the NDP brought into the province in 2007 after the last election.
The NDP vote tax legislation provides an annual subsidy to political parties in Manitoba depending on the number of votes that they receive in an election. As a result of the legislation, the New Democratic Party is eligible to collect $250,000 of taxpayers’ dollars each and every year. It is essentially a tax on voting that each and every Manitoban pays.
Immediately after the vote tax legislation was announced, Manitoba Progressive Conservatives made a public declaration that we would not accept this political party subsidy. It was our belief, from the beginning, that there are enough taxpayer subsidies that benefit political parties and there doesn’t need to be another one in the form of a vote tax.
If passed, the legislation introduced by the P.C. Party this week will ensure that if political parties want additional financial support for their individual Party, they will have to go out and earn that support by asking for voluntary donations from individuals. After all, Manitobans go out and earn their pay each and every day, why should political parties be able to rely upon an annual handout.
Unfortunately, it seems unlikely that the NDP will support the removal of the vote tax. Both the provincial and the federal NDP have made it clear that they feel entitled to this taxpayer subsidy. In fact, the provincial NDP said as much at their recent provincial Annual General Meeting where they passed a resolution reaffirming their belief that they are entitled to the vote tax.
It seems clear that the provincial NDP are simply unwilling or unable to raise funds for their political Party by going to individual Manitobans and selling their ideas and asking for individual donations. Manitoba Progressive Conservatives believe very strongly that this vote tax should be eliminated and fundraising should be on a grassroots, individual basis.
Unfortunately, the NDP position on the vote tax is just a continuation of a how they generally treat taxpayers dollars in the province. Whether it’s wasting billions of dollars constructing the new Bi-Pole III hydro transmission line on the wrong side of the province or allowing bureaucracy to grow in the healthcare system at the expense of front line services, the NDP simply don’t respect taxdollars and the people who earn them.
Our hope is that the NDP will pass the legislation that will eliminate the NDP vote tax. If they refuse to, it will be left to another future government to do the right thing for Manitoba taxpayers.
