No mention of personal tax cut for 2010 and 2011: Hawranik

April 7, 2009�

The NDP’s promised personal income tax reduction plan was a mere pittance to begin with, but when Minister of Finance Greg Selinger introduced his budget, it was nowhere to be found. Progressive Conservatives have questioned the Minister repeatedly, but have not received a straight answer about whether Manitobans can still count on the promised income tax relief for the next two years.� � � �
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“I’ve combed through the budget several times now, but I cannot find any mention of this promised tax cut,” said Gerald Hawranik, MLA for Lac du Bonnet. “The Minister of Finance needs to explain why these meagre, but previously promised tax cuts have disappeared.”�
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In the 2007 budget, a five-year personal income tax plan was announced and re-announced in subsequent budgets. But in the 2009/10 budget, no mention was made about following through with the last two years of that plan.
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Hawranik said when the third of a five year promise to cut the personal income tax rate came into effect on January 1, 2009, Progressive Conservatives demonstrated its value, by spending the bi-weekly savings at a local candy store. The savings amounted to nothing more than a handful of gumballs.
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But according to the NDP’s 2009/10 budget, next year Manitobans won’t even be able to buy that handful of gumballs. “There won’t be any savings at all,” he said.
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Hawranik also said the budget leaves Manitobans with no idea what the government has planned for the province in the future – or even one year down the road for that matter.
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“They’re putting off decisions until next year when the economic downturn will hit our province much harder than it has to date,” he said. “The NDP should come clean today, rather than hide the bad news they don’t want to talk about.”