Before the last election Gordon Campbell and Gary Collins repeatedly misled British Columbians with claims that tax cuts pay for themselves. When he appeared on CKNW's Jennifer Mather show this week, Premier Campbell was asked why his tax cuts failed. He denied the failure referring to selective statistics on job creation. BC's job record is not nearly as good as claimed by the Premier, but the claim about tax cuts was specific enough in the New Era document so that no one need be misled on how to measure the extent of the failure.

Page 5 of Campbell's book of election promises said that "lower personal income tax rates lead to higher revenue - not less." If there were any confusion as to whether that meant higher revenue due to equalization payments or higher revenue from the tax that was cut, the book went on to say that "In Canada, nine provinces cut personal income tax rates since 1995, including BC. In every case, audited financial statements show that income tax revenues are now 9% to 36% higher than they were before rates were cut". The BC Liberals appear confused about cause and effect. In a growing economy, governments can afford to cut taxes as part of the way they distribute growing revenues; revenue will continue to grow as long as the cuts aren't too deep - in BC the economy is flat and the tax cuts were extreme.

Campbell's failed experiment with tax cuts is dramatically illustrated by his own budget documents (see http://www.bcbudget.gov.bc.ca/bfp/bgt2003_appendices_table-a8.htm). Personal income tax revenue was $5.963 billion in fiscal year 2000-01. It fell to $4.216 in 2002-03. The most recent budget forecasts that it will be $5.337 billion in 2005-06. The Campbell government's estimate for income tax revenue five years after the cuts is more than $600 million below the pre-cut level. That is why it is accurate to say that the tax cuts failed; no amount of bafflegab from the Premier can hide that failure.