Mike Moffatt considers the corporate tax rate debate, while Stephen Gordon considers the GST.
Mike Moffatt considers the corporate tax rate debate, while Stephen Gordon considers the GST.
It’s not clear to me that the Conservatives owe their 2006 victory to the GST cut, and governments in Quebec and Nova Scotia recently increased the TVQ/HST without – as far as I can tell – a great amount of fuss. Voters are adults, and can generally be counted on to make adult decisions if offered adult choices.
And even if voters do have an irrational aversion to the GST, I don’t see why I should be internalising this tendency. When politicians choose to sacrifice evidence-based policy in favour of electoral gain, they should be called on it.
In the comment thread under Gordon’s post, Ian Brodie, Stephen Harper’s former chief of staff, turns up to defend the GST cut.