Symbolic
So I attended a pre-budget session put on by the Tories last night and actually found it rather enjoyable. While the PCs organized, it was a fairly non-partisan event with Jim Carr, Dave Angus and Shannon Martin all sitting in as panelists and giving their organizations hopes and expectations for tomorrow's provincial budget.
The highlights were all stuff I could easily get behind: increased R&D spending, increased education spending, eliminate the payroll tax, look at overall tax competitiveness (especially vis a vie the rest of the west).
Everyone involved had an underlying-though-sometimes-specific message for the NDP government to "Present a Vision For Manitoba Twenty Years For Now And Work Towards It".
Everyone who knows me knows that I believe the number one failing of the Gary Doer NDP Government is their inability (or lack of desire) to position Manitoba on stronger economic footing and to seize control of our economic destiny during these last few years when government revenues have been strong. There has been no vision and very little legacy to show for the previous decade.
The highlights were all stuff I could easily get behind: increased R&D spending, increased education spending, eliminate the payroll tax, look at overall tax competitiveness (especially vis a vie the rest of the west).
Everyone involved had an underlying-though-sometimes-specific message for the NDP government to "Present a Vision For Manitoba Twenty Years For Now And Work Towards It".
Everyone who knows me knows that I believe the number one failing of the Gary Doer NDP Government is their inability (or lack of desire) to position Manitoba on stronger economic footing and to seize control of our economic destiny during these last few years when government revenues have been strong. There has been no vision and very little legacy to show for the previous decade.
I know that some will argue that they must have been doing something right considering we're about to ride out a global recession and to a certain extent I can't really disagree. However it is false economic safety, a bubble economy built on the back of 40% of our budget coming from transfers. Gary Doer and Greg Selinger have put Manitoba into the exact situation the average debt-ridden household put themselves into over the last ten years, spending someone else's money and hoping that the bill never shows up. In the meantime, losing the safety that comes from self-sufficiency.
And maybe the transfers bill will never show up. Maybe we can sit back and applaud the Quebec politics that keeps the transfer program going strong.
But what if we can't? What if Ontario, Alberta & BC - the three provinces seeing the biggest EI recipient gains - start to blow back and demand that the program changes?
What happens then Mr. Premier? Notice how we're all of a sudden beholden to forces we can no longer control? Is Manitoba really that strong if we have the proverbial Sword of Damocles hanging over 40% plus of our annual budget?
Anyhow, food for thought. In regards to the title of this post, Shannon Martin of the Canadian Federation of Independent Business made an interesting statement last night that really got me thinking:
And maybe the transfers bill will never show up. Maybe we can sit back and applaud the Quebec politics that keeps the transfer program going strong.
But what if we can't? What if Ontario, Alberta & BC - the three provinces seeing the biggest EI recipient gains - start to blow back and demand that the program changes?
What happens then Mr. Premier? Notice how we're all of a sudden beholden to forces we can no longer control? Is Manitoba really that strong if we have the proverbial Sword of Damocles hanging over 40% plus of our annual budget?
Anyhow, food for thought. In regards to the title of this post, Shannon Martin of the Canadian Federation of Independent Business made an interesting statement last night that really got me thinking:
The Payroll Tax...A tax designed to directly target big business and the largest of the large economic generators in the province....When it comes to the provincial income generated by the tax, only one-third of the revenue actually comes from private enterprises in the province. The Federal and Provincial governments and all their assorted bodies (crown corporations, regional health authorities, universities) pay the rest.
Doesn't that just scream out at you as an area of concern? That over two-thirds of the payroll tax income comes from public source revenues simply swirling around some accounting ledgers?
"Frightening symbolic" was how I put it yesterday. There is an economic experiment being built in Manitoba and I am extremely concerned in that I'm not sure we're going to like the outcome of it.
Doesn't that just scream out at you as an area of concern? That over two-thirds of the payroll tax income comes from public source revenues simply swirling around some accounting ledgers?
"Frightening symbolic" was how I put it yesterday. There is an economic experiment being built in Manitoba and I am extremely concerned in that I'm not sure we're going to like the outcome of it.
Did any of the panelists discuss services to the poorest of the poor? Was there any mention of increasing social assistance rates, promoting programs to help people to find and obtain jobs or plans to build more affordable housing?
Didn't think so.
Posted by
thebanana |
8:07 PM
The payroll tax in general concerns me, but that's an interesting point that you make.
Re. transfers: I think it's inevitable that they will be scaled back, but the recession and the fiscal stimulus measures that it has brought have delayed it by a few years.
Posted by
cherenkov |
9:07 PM
The banana...
1. Yes, there was talk about how the poorest of the poor should be taken off the income tax rolls altogether by raising the basic exemption a helluva lot higher than it's current levels. This would remove tens of thousands of Manitobans from the income tax rolls and would you argue that that wouldn't be a good thing for them?
2. I can't help but notice that a "progressive" government has been in office for ten years...Where has been the low income strategy all these years? How come ridings that have voted NDP all these years continue to be some of the poorest neighbourhoods and the ones requiring the most help from the safety net? I would have thought that the current party, with such a compassion for the poor, would have achieved for few important victories on that front. How's that been going?
Posted by
The Hack |
11:38 PM