It is good news to see the Campbell government admit one of its mistakes. Rolling the sales tax back to the level it was at when they were elected is a small step in the right direction. In the two and a half years since the tax was raised to 7.5%, BC families paid over $600 million just because of the half point increase. The budget would still have been balanced this year if that tax gouge had not been made.

According to the government news release, $270 million per year less will be collected as a result of rolling the tax back to 7.0%. The Campbell government also increased MSP premiums by 50%; that tax grab cost BC families $400 million per year. Rolling that back would be a good step in what should be a policy to eliminate that highly regressive and administratively inefficient tax. Alberta is the only other province with a premium system for financing part of Medicare. Ontario's new tax is an add-on to the income tax system.

Since making $1.5 billion in income tax cuts, and $790 million in corporate tax cuts, Collins increased taxes and fees in order to recover lost revenue. Before Christmas 2003 he illegally increased tobacco taxes and also raised government's markup on beer, wine and liquor. That was a $100 million tax grab. In last year's budget he increased the gas tax by 3.5 cents per litre and thereby grabbed $211 million per year. In that budget he also had a $25 million per year increase in tobacco taxes. Without looking at numerous small fees, from driver licenses to parking fees in parks and hunting and fishing licenses, the big tax grabs total $1.094 billion. Collins' changed who pays as he clawed back over two thirds of his income tax cuts while cutting services.

The announcement to put the sales tax back to the level where he found it invites questions on what other mistakes can be corrected even though the money lost by BC families is gone forever.