Mr. Selinger, Can You Spare A Dime?

One of the trumpeted parts of last week’s provincial budget was an announcement by Premier Greg Selinger and the NDP that they want to offer you a loan. A loan for snow tires.

It seems that Mr. Selinger has come to the conclusion that many Manitobans simply cannot afford snow tires and so he has instructed Manitoba Public Insurance to develop a program to offer low interest loans so Manitobans can purchase them. This, as much as anything, demonstrates all that is wrong with the NDP government and how they view the finances of the province and of individual Manitobans.

Of course there is nothing wrong with the use of snow tires or encouraging people to use snow tires. Anything that improves the safety of driving on Manitoba roads in the winter is worth encouraging. But why is it that Manitobans would need a loan from the government to pay for snow tires that cost an estimated $1000 for a set? Maybe because the NDP have taken that much and more away from Manitobans.

In just the past two years, the NDP government has increased and expanded taxes to the point that it has cost an average Manitoba family $1600 per year. That has included the expansion of the Provincial Sales Tax (PST) to items such as home insurance and haircuts and last year it included the increase of the PST from 7% to 8%. These NDP tax increases have been the largest tax increases our province has ever seen in back to back years and they have resulted in some families having to make difficult financial decisions.

After Premier Greg Selinger spent the past two years taking $1600 from the average family through tax increases, he has come to the conclusion that it would be a good idea if Manitoba families could afford $1000 snow tires. So he is going to offer them a loan. This is a bit like someone robbing you and then offering you a loan so that you can buy back the stuff that they just stole from you.

Instead of simply having a tax policy that leaves money in the pockets of Manitobans so that they have the money to afford to make decisions such as purchasing snow tires, Mr. Selinger and the NDP believe in economic policy that takes money from people through taxes and then offers them government loans so they can buy the things that government feels is important. Because the NDP feel that they know best how to control your money.

This one announcement, symbolizes the problem with NDP economics. It doesn’t make sense to tax people to the point that they can’t afford the things they need only to turn around and offer them a loan for those things. It doesn’t make sense unless you are Premier Greg Selinger and the NDP.