The Business Council of Manitoba has proposed a one per cent increase in the provincial sales tax dedicated to infrastructure.
http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/opinion/westview/find-courage-and-bite-the-bullet-147422175.html
Until Manitoba converts the PST to a GST, I will vigorously oppose the idea put forward by Jim Carr to raise sales taxes.
As a farm operator this year, I have paid a lot of provincial sales taxes on farm inputs even though my farm was in a loss position due to the flooding. Over time, more and more of the supposedly exempt farm input costs are being subject to PST.
If Jim Carr wants to get on my good side, please suggest that capital taxes, payroll taxes, and PST costs on capital inputs are replaced by an effective GST or harmonized sales tax. Taxing productive companies, farmers and business people on the purchase of business inputs and capital equipment is one of the reasons our province lags in productivity measures. Fix the productivity problems and the economy will expand, thus fixing the tax revenue problem.
