WINNIPEG: Dozens of Manitobans from across the political spectrum told the government in Committee to axe their vote tax scheme. Unfortunately, the government wasn't listening and neglected to remove the vote tax as it announced amendments today to Bill 37.

"People from across the political spectrum told the government that spending $2 million of taxpayer money on political parties is not a priority" said Colin Craig, Manitoba Director for the CTF. "Weren't they listening If a political party is having trouble raising money, that's not the taxpayers' problem. What's next Are they going to force us to volunteer for political parties that can't find enough volunteers "

One of the most appalling aspects of the $1.25 vote tax scheme was the fact that it was tied to inflation. Removal of the clause that adjusted it to inflation was a positive step although the government should have eliminated the whole scheme all together.

The government was also quick to try and muzzle opposition parties through censoring MLA newsletters, but ignored the CTF's proposal to censor propaganda-filled government advertising campaigns.

"The Canadian Taxpayers Federation proposed that all-party consent be required prior to big government ad campaigns." added Craig. "This would have cut down on bias government ads that run simply to tell us about the wonderful job they think they're doing. No opposition party would ever agree to such ads, thus we would see less money wasted on them."

Voters can still sign the "Axe The Vote Tax" petition on the CTF's web site - www.taxpayer.com.