Lik

It's good to see Gordo do this, and again, it shows that public pressure (and people power in general) is still something the regular citizen can rely on.

As a political leader, resigning was definitely the right move, but it is debatable the move came too late. Just as importantly, perhaps the Liberals didn't have to announce the reduction on personal income tax had Gordo resigned, but alas, the progression of tax breaks followed by his resignation is a logical course of action to take.

Now the question is, is the combined effect of huge tax break + Gordo resignation enough to pacify public anger on the Liberals and woo voters back to the Liberal camp?

-Lik

Lik

the progression of tax breaks followed by his resignation is a logical course of action to take.
Lik 發表於 2010-11-3 11:24

It is a logical course of progress when you think of it as what it is -- damage control. You try the smaller things first to see if that's enough to control the damage. And if the lighter measures aren't working (or working well enough), you adopt moves that are more drastic.

Why not 15% tax cut and HST at the same time?  Lib says HST is revenue neutral.  Unless they lie about that too.
Look4chrisng 發表於 2010-11-3 11:52

The 15% personal income tax cut is nothing more than an attempt to bribe the voters back into voting Liberals again at the next provincial election. When the HST was announced/adopted, the Liberals have been in office for too long and were too conceited to understand the consequences of pushing a tax increase (what the HST effective amounted to) through.

As I have said since day 1, the idea of the HST is not bad at all. However, the execution was completely flawed. Had the Liberals understood this at the time of the proposal, they could easily have pushed it through by announcing a 1 or 2% reduction in the PST portion of the HST. Something as small as that would have been enough to keep the majority sufficiently happy. They'll probably still grumble and stuff, but the backlash won't be anything nearly as bad as it is now.

-Lik

Lik

On the other hand, it's part of the HST agreement with the Federal gov't that they cannot change the tax rate for the first few years. Besides, at that time (depth of the recession), I don't think it's prudent for the province to push out a revenue negative move. I applaud their attempt in fiscal responsibility and in their courage to make a move at that time to push out something good for the province at their own political popularity's expense. I don't know if we will ever find a premier like that ever again.
BiscottiGelato 發表於 2010-11-3 12:19

I would be quite surprised if the no provincial sale tax reduction clause could not be re-negotiated with the federal government to adopt some sort of change. After all, if the provincial government was only reducing the provincial portion of the tax, then that really isn't a matter for the federal government to meddle with. As a means to keep the public happy, certainly the federal government (and federal politicans) would understand the importance as well.

-Lik

Lik

If you think socialist systems always fail, obviously you have no understanding of how European countries, esp those in northern Europe (Norway, Sweden, Denmark, etc.) function.

-Lik

Lik

Does it really matter whether a country is an economic powerhouse when the the same country consistently ranks among the highest in terms of quality of life general contentment among its citizens/residents? For that matter, what is the purpose of a government? If you ask me, my answer is that a successful government, a good government is one where its citizens enjoys a high quality of life.

People keep looking only at the the numeric figure of the tax rate, but totally ignore the benefits that citizens receive in return. In Germany, for example, university and post secondary training is free. In North America and in HK nowadays, how many students are not burdened with huge post secondary education debts?

-Lik