It has been several months since NDP Premier Greg Selinger announced that he would be increasing the provincial sales tax from 7% to 8%. And ever since then he has been struggling to explain to Manitobans why the increase was necessary at all. New information released this past week shows why it has been such a struggle.
All along the NDP have been saying that as a result of tough economic times globally it has been difficult for them to balance the budget and fund key services. They have continued to use this excuse when explaining the PST increase. And yet, by the NDP government’s own budget numbers it shows that there is expected to be a 13.6 percent increase in revenue for the provincial government between 2012-2015. That would be the second highest increase in the country. You can be sure that the average wage of Manitobans isn’t going to be going up by 13.6% in that time period.
But a 13.6% increase in revenues isn’t enough for the NDP so they increased the PST. And now as a result they expect that government revenues will increase by 22.7% between 2012-2015. That would be the largest increase in the country.
Of course all along the NDP have been saying that they needed you to pay more in PST because the money would be going into critical infrastructure. Yet, since the provincial budget was announced, there have been 130 funding announcements by the NDP and 66% are NOT for roads, bridges, flood prevention or water projects.
And that is one of the reasons the PST increase has been such a tough sell. It’s bad enough that it broke a promise by Greg Selinger not to raise taxes and that it went around the law by not having the legally required referendum. But it is impossible to sell the increase because it is clearly not necessary and the money is not going where the NDP promised that it would.
And for Manitobans, the increase in the PST couldn’t come at a worse time. Statistics for July show that inflation reached a two year high in Manitoba and now is the highest in the country. Higher costs for fuel, energy, food and taxes are eroding the amount of money that Manitobans have after necessities are paid for. Manitobans are feeling the squeeze on their wallets at the same time that the NDP are rolling in money and spending every cent of it.
It is always hard to sell higher taxes. But it is particularly hard when there is no reason for the increase, when the money isn’t going where it was promised to go and when the taxpayer is running on empty. The NDP should try to stop selling Manitobans on the PST tax increase and start listening to them instead.
