FINANCE MINISTER’S CREDIBILITY ON THE LINE AS PRESSURE MOUNTS OVER CAMPBELL’S NEW SALES TAX VICTORIA – Finance Minister Colin Hansen’s improbable claim that the B.C. Liberals were not considering a new sales tax until after the provincial election undermines the remaining credibility of the Campbell government, the New Democrats said today. “Minister Hansen is trying to claim he wasn’t aware that Ontario was adopting a harmonized tax until late May. But the premier of Ontario was talking about his plans in February, so it’s simply inconceivable that this issue wasn’t on the B.C. government’s radar until after the election,” said New Democrat finance critic Bruce Ralston. Finance Minister Colin Hansen has claimed that he only started to consider bringing in a new sales tax mere days after the election, telling the media yesterday that the “harmonized sales tax was not on our radar" and only “became obvious” after the election. After stating during the election campaign that any move toward tax harmonization would be “a major concern” and that they had “no plans” to do so, late last week the B.C. Liberals pulled an about-face and announced they will be merging the PST with the GST. “Either the finance minister is completely over his head on this file, or he has been blatantly misleading British Columbians,” said Ralston. “Coming from the minister who continued to claim that his government would keep their promise on a $495 million deficit for months after leading business leaders said it clearly wasn’t achievable, this is the last straw. British Columbians just can’t trust this minister to tell the truth about the B.C. Liberals’ plans.” Ralston noted he questioned former Finance Minister Carole Taylor in the legislature last year, and she said at the time that despite pressure from the federal minister her government was not harmonizing the sales tax. “Finance Minister Colin Hansen’s about-face on a new sales tax has caught consumers and many industries by surprise. With small businesses and families across the province struggling to make ends meet, now is not the time to catch British Columbians off guard with a new tax after no consultation,” said Ralston. Carole James and the New Democrats have been holding Gordon Campbell accountable for his broken election promises, including his promise to protect health and education and his failure to admit until after the election that the deficit will be significantly higher than promised. Under the Campbell government, B.C. has had the worst rate of full-time job losses, the second-worst performing economy, and the highest level of child poverty in the country.
