Premier Kathleen Wynne and her Liberal government are going to raise taxes. It’s just a matter of time.
Ontario’s structural deficit is reaching a tipping point. Our public debt will surpass Greece’s in a matter of years, our debt-to-GDP ratio is pushing an insurmountable 40 per cent, and servicing the debt is the third largest expense in government.
Ontario cannot keep on going as it has for the past few years. It cannot ignore the deficit and hope it will go away. It will not. Our government has only two choices when it comes to addressing the debt and structural deficit. They can rein in spending. Or they can raise taxes.
Unfortunately, this government is signaling it will be raising taxes.
But you won’t hear Premier Wynne using the words "tax increase." In fact, she goes out of her way to tell journalists that
she will not raise taxes. Instead, she uses soft phrases like ‘finding new revenue tools’ or ‘financing our infrastructure deficit.’
Politicians have mastered the art of prying more money out of your pocket without admitting to new taxes. We’ve all heard expressions like ‘raising premiums,’ ‘closing tax loopholes,’ ‘reversing a tax cut,’ or ‘implementing new revenue streams.’ It’s all just clever spin to disguise massive tax increases.
The popular television show, The Simpsons, even picked up on this in an old episode where future President Lisa created the "temporary refund adjustment program” as a way to hike taxes.
These poll-tested, carefully-crafted phrases all translate to tax hikes.
Premier Wynne is taking a page from her predecessor’s playbook. In 2003, Dalton McGuinty imposed a new health tax, after signing the Taxpayers Protection Pledge promising not to raise taxes.
And she’s not wasting any time in doing just that.
Despite a
guarantee not to raise taxes during the last election, the Liberals
hiked fees on driver’s licenses and registration, and starting next week, Ontario will face another tax hike – this one disguised as an “eco-fee.” Consumers are being hit with an
increased tax on electronics and other recyclable products. Farmers and truckers are being hit especially hard, as the tax on tires is estimated to increase to $1,646, the largest eco-fee in the country. The second largest is in BC, where the same set of tires would be hit with $210 eco-tax.
It doesn’t stop there. The Wynne government wants to spend
$50 billion to give Toronto’s transit system a much-needed overhaul. They are looking for “revenue tools,” to fund this latest pet project, including hikes to payroll tax, property tax, sales tax and gas tax. They’ve also mentioned imposing a new ‘vehicle kilometres travelled’ fee, highway tolls, lane tolls, parking space levies, development fees and land capture fees. These “Toronto-only” tax hikes will surely be felt across the entire province.
For a government fraught with spending and waste scandals, that shamelessly pays subway toll collectors over $100,000 and happily caves to unions over gold-plated pensions, new taxes are a tough sell. So instead of selling it, this government is just dressing it up and pretending it’s something else.
Don’t be fooled.
When you see a bird that quacks like a duck, walks like a duck, has feathers and webbed feet and is surrounded by ducks, you should assume that the bird is a duck. When you hear a politician talk about raising revenues, creating new government programs, addressing social injustices and continuing massive expenditures, you should assume tax increases are on their way.
Premier Wynne can try to distance herself from McGuinty’s record. But when it comes to her own record, she appears to be just another tax-and-spend Liberal.
Candice Malcolm, Ontario Director
