By Arthur Weinreb
Monday, June 18, 2007
In early June when the unofficial kickoff to the Ontario provincial election campaign took place, Premier Dalton McGuinty was quick off of the mark on the issue of tax increases. Of the hundreds of promises made during the 2003 campaign and then broken by the Liberals after they came into power, the major one was McGuinty's promise that he would not increase taxes. After not only making that promise but signing a pledge, in writing, that he would not increase taxes, McGuinty turned around and imposed a new health care tax that was one of the largest in the history of the province. Some Ontarians ended up being required to send an additional $900 a year to Queen's Park. Both McGuinty's word and his signature became meaningless.
McGuinty told us that he had to break that promise. The devil made him do it. The devil in this case was of course the previous Harris/Eves PC government that had governed Ontario for the past eight years. The Tories kept insisting that the books were balanced and when the Liberals came to power they discovered that there was actually a deficit in excess of $5 billion. So McGuinty was justified in lying.
If that lie wasn't bad enough, after whining that he had to break his promise, McGuinty once again promised not to increase taxes if his party is re-elected in October. This time of course he means it!
The premier is trying to convince the unwashed masses that the only factor that can cause a government to have raise taxes when they honestly have no plan to do so is a hidden deficit left by a previous government. McGuinty's argument as to why he will keep the promise this time is that he is in charge and he knows that there is no hidden deficit so he will not break the promise if he is re-elected.
McGuinty expects Ontarians to blindly accept his argument that a hidden deficit is the only unforeseen circumstance that can possibly result in a need to increase revenues. Whether Ontarians actually buy this line remains to be seen. There are other things that can happen that can lead to a revenue shortfall that a government must make up by increasing taxes. Sudden collapses of the financial markets or a major terrorist attack are just two examples of things that can happen that are beyond the control of the provincial government. McGuinty's implication that tax increases are justified only when a hidden deficit is found is simply untrue. Oh, no! Not another lie.
There are also religious reasons to increase taxes and our boy has found religion. The religion of course is worshipping at the altar of global warming that all politicians feel they must now do. A little over a week after McGuinty once again pledged not to raise taxes, Ontarians got a contradictory message from Environment Minister Laurel Broten. Broten took some time off from flicking everything in sight to announce that the province was considering imposing a new "eco tax".
Broten announced that the province was considering a tax of between $5 and $45 on the purchase of electronic equipment such as television sets and computers. This tax would supposedly be used to recycle the products that are purchased and divert them from landfill. Although the program is not definite, other provinces have imposed such taxes and there is a good chance that a re-elected Dalton McGuinty will follow through with it. The anticipated start date of the program is 2009.
Now, since many people believe that we are on the eve of planetary destruction that stems from man-made global warming, this type of tax is fairly easy to sell. As long as it doesn't take a big bite out of them, as would the federal Green Party's idea of a carbon tax that would increase the price of gas by about 12 cents a litre, most people will go along with this type of tax increase. But that's not the point. The point is that the announcement came a week and a bit after Dalton McGuinty promised that he wouldn't increase taxes again. While there is no firm promise that this eco tax will be introduced if the Liberals win another majority, if the tax is not brought in, the reason will have nothing to do with the fact that the new tax would break McGuinty's latest "I won't raise your taxes" promise.
Having his Minister of the Environment trump a new tax so soon after McGuinty's re-promise of no further tax increases is a gross insult to the people of Ontario.
Those Ontarians who believe that the Honourable Dalton McGuinty is honourable deserve to continue to live in McGuintyland for another four years. You just can't believe a word that he says.
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