Greens, Liberals spar over tax cuts
Tax cuts will either power the provincial recovery from COVID-19 or cause significant social harm, viewers of an online Kelowna debate heard Tuesday.
Liberal candidate Renee Merrifield and Green candidate Amanda Poon took different views of the potential of deep tax cuts to lift B.C. out of the economic problems caused by the pandemic.
Merrifield said the Liberals’ plan to eliminate the provincial sales tax for one year, get rid of the small business tax permanently, and review dozens of new taxes imposed by the NDP would put more money in the hands of individuals and families.
“Governments don’t bring back economies. Consumers do, and consumer confidence absolutely needs to increase,” Merrifield said, “so we are committed to making sure that for that full year we’re going to put everything on sale and really increase the competitive advantage of those that are in B.C. running businesses here.”
But Poon said extensive and deep tax cuts would be an unwise path for the government to pursue going forward.
“The economy of British Columbia is very sophisticated. This is not a dollar store,” Poon said.
“So when we just slash and discount, and discount the value of the labour of our workers, and discount the value of our precious resources, it has unintended costs,” she added.
The Greens do support reducing the PST on certain products, such as building supplies and environmentally friendly technologies, Poon said.
The Liberals’ tax cuts would deprive government of $11 billion in revenue over two years, Poon said: “That will obviously impact services.”
But Merrifield said the tax cuts were warranted given the scale of the economic problems confronting the province.
“We’re in a wartime right now. We need dire and excessive measures to really stimulate the economy and that’s what the B.C. Liberals are prepared to do,” Merrifield said.
Merrifield and Poon are running for their respective parties in the riding of Kelowna-Mission.
Krystal Smith, the NDP’s candidate for the riding, did not participate in the virtual noon-hour debate, hosted by the Kelowna Chamber of Commerce.