Manitoba’s official opposition is adopting an unorthodox strategy to reverse a tax hike in the province. It is suing the provincial government.
Progressive Conservative leader Brian Pallister announced Friday that his party will take the governing NDP to court over its 2013 decision, as part of the provincial budget, to increase the provincial sales tax from seven to eight percent.
Pallister said the NDP has “breached legislation forbidding any Manitoba government from making tax increases without consulting the electorate.”
“If the government is allowed to proceed … this sets a precedent,” Pallister noted in a statement.
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“(It) allows the government to raise taxes in any of the three major categories as they wish.”
Pallister said this is not a legal discussion on the merits of the PST hike; it is a question of process.
“The application is asking for opinion from the court as to the legality of the process the NDP used. The NDP presented a bill to hike the PST at the same time they did away with the right of Manitobans to vote on the issue…. We believe that was illegal.”
Bottom line, Pallister said a referendum should be held and Manitobans should have the opportunity to support or reject a PST increase of one percent.
NDP representatives said the legal action was nothing but a political stunt, adding the case was unlikely to succeed.
Last fall the Tories commissioned a public opinion survey to gauge the popularity of the tax hike. NRG Research Group, the polling firm, found that 77 percent of Manitobans opposed the PST increase and 19 percent supported the measure.
