When a politician lies, taxpayers need to hold him or her accountable.

NDP Premier Greg Selinger promised not to raise taxes during the 2011 election, but brought in the largest tax hike in 25 years right after getting elected.

Greg Selinger’s 2012 budget raised taxes on home insurance, hair cuts, manicures, pedicures and tattoo services by adding the PST to those services.

Now his 2013 budget has brought in an even larger overall tax increase; including an increase to the PST from 7% to 8%!

Premier Selinger broke his promise and you need to speak out! Tell the Premier “no more tax hikes, get spending under control!”

Premier Greg Selinger
945-3714
[email protected]

Cc: [email protected]

How Could the Tax Increase Have Been Avoided?

Don’t buy the rhetoric about “needing” to raise taxes to pay for health care and other services.

There is plenty of waste to cut. Consider these examples:

• The Winnipeg Regional Health Authority spent $37,712 on a rooftop patio and barbecue for their new executive offices. Does your workplace have a rooftop patio?

• The government spent over $600,000 on Winnipeg Jets tickets and advertisements. Do crowns really need to advertise? Where else are you going to buy your car insurance or electricity? The expenditures are way over the top.

• For every 1,000 people in Manitoba, 103 of them work for either the provincial government or a municipal government. Meanwhile the average Canadian province is just 84 per 1,000 people. If we could merely get our bloated bureaucracy down to the average, taxpayers could save $1.2 billion per year in salaries and other costs.

• The province’s Vital Statistics division was “extremely behind,” but let all staff take two hours of paid time off to go Christmas shopping on the clock. Incredibly, staff had to be brought in on the weekend and paid overtime to catch up.

• The province’s $150 million “eHealth” money pit is spiraling out of control – could even wind up costing taxpayer over $500 million – but where are the results?

• When Manitoba hosted the Western Premiers Conference in 2006, over $25,907 of public funds was spent on gifts for the 105 “dignitaries.” That worked out to $246 per attendee. Consider some of the gifts; Hyde Port garment bags, jackets, scarves, chocolates, fishing rods, fishing scales, denim shirts, guidebooks and more.

• In the middle of the economic slowdown, the Floodway & East Side Road Authority spent $39,518.33 on full colour day planners to hand out to people. Sure the planners included a few pages of useful info, but brochures are much more cost-effective. Did we mention they also spent $3,200 on Floodway calendars.