NEW LIBERAL TAX REVEALS DECEIT, ARROGANCE - July 30, 2009

BC Conservative Press Release on the HST

The announcement by the BC Liberals to harmonize the provincial sales tax with the GST, after promising never to do so, is the mark of a deceitful and arrogant government, says BC Conservative Party president, Wayne McGrath. McGrath says that the move also reveals a desperate government looking for more and more ways to make up for its colossal blunders and overruns, such as the RAV line, The Vancouver Convention Centre and other Olympic related projects. “The HST is just another way for Premier Campbell to get more money from BC taxpayers. By harmonizing the PST with the hated GST, sales taxes will now apply to goods and services that were previously exempted. It is just another tax grab,” said McGrath.

“I also believe it is a convenient way to take people’s attention off of his scandalous behavior regarding the destruction of emails in the BC Legislature Raid case,” McGrath added.“The fact there has been no internal government investigation into who ordered the destruction of those files tells you volumes about what kind of ethics are emanating from the Premier’s Office.”McGrath says that even though Campbell received a third majority it does not give his government carte blanche to destroy evidence in criminal trials or to levy new taxes during a recession. “This puts the lie to the idea of these Liberals being a fiscally responsible government. You don’t hit people with punitive taxes on goods and services during a slowdown in the economy and expect it to help get us out of the recession. That kind of thinking belongs to socialists, leftists and progressives, not fiscally responsible government. This simply proves what we have contended all along – that the BC Liberals are “big government liberals”, not small ‘c’ conservatives.” “Now you can add duplicitous, deceitful and arrogant to that description as well,” concluded McGrath.

The BC Conservative Party believes that any perceived benefits derived from harmonization could also be achieved with amendments to the PST and without the massive tax increases to BC residents proposed by the BC Liberals. The BC Conservatives would also bring in a single rate of tax on incomes that would be applied only after a basic personal exemption, equivalent to minimum wage, so that low income earners do not pay tax, and working people are able to get ahead by not being taxed in a higher bracket every time they get a raise or work overtime.

For additional information: Wayne McGrath 250.542.7744 nwmcgrath@shaw.ca