• Debt up not down, deficit higher than projected
• PST shell game obvious
• Personal income tax increase for foreseeable future

WINNIPEG, MB: The Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF) is calling the provincial government out for delivering a Pinocchio budget. The government’s claims of debt repayment, a lower deficit and infrastructure spending are all based on mistruths.

“It is abundantly clear now to anyone with a calculator that the government has used the PST increase as a blatant tax grab,” said CTF Prairie Director Colin Craig. “It would be like paying your lawn care guy $20 to cut your grass, telling him you’re giving him a $5 raise, but only paying him $23 by reducing the base pay to $18. The government cut its base funding.”

“It’s good the government has reduced the deficit a bit, down to $357 million,” continued Craig. “But people can’t forget that just two years ago they expected a $23 million surplus by now.”

Other beefs/bouquets include:

• Tax increases for Manitobans continue through bracket creep
• No pension reform for government employees – in fact, there are bailouts
• The lean initiative is a step in the right direction, the government should look at innovative techniques such as gains-haring to tap into frontline workers’ knowledge