(The following article is from the March 16-31, 2010 issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $30/year, or $15 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $45 US per year; other overseas readers - $45 US or $50 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, BC, V5L 3J1.)

By Sam Hammond

It's the first week of March, an early spring in British Columbia, and the corporate feeding frenzy on the backs of athletes and the BC population called the Olympic Games is somewhat abated. BC still holds the gold medal for the highest child poverty rate in Canada, the lowest minimum wage, the most homeless, the lowest corporate tax rate in the G7 countries (and still plunging). The Campbell Liberals are leading in the race to the bottom in inadequate funding for education and almost everything that can be called a social program.

     It's more and more of the same in the 2010 provincial budget introduced on March 2 by Finance Minister Colin Hansen.

     The Harmonized Sales Tax, touted as "revenue neutral" by the Liberals, is apparently partisan to the business community, who will reclaim all that they pay and pocket what they used to pay. The pockets of the working population, the homeless and the poor, will be emptied by the imposition of taxes on goods previously exempt and the need to fund the higher costs of social services.

     The HST is actually "revenue negative," because the government will actually lose $113 million on it in 2010/11. They will also lose $69 million on the carbon tax because they went too far on personal tax cuts (to who?). This adds up to $182 million in losses.

     The Forests and Range budget is cut by 37%, because the Liberal crystal ball has told them they won't have to fight forest fires for the next two years.

     Capital expenditures for major corporate-friendly projects have been raised 124%. This will generate a debt service cost that in itself is $417 million more than the entire budget for the Ministry of Children and Family Development, which will receive a modest 1.2% increase this year and nothing for the next two years.  Housing and Social Development will receive 1.9% this year followed by cuts in the next two years.

     But the most beautiful stroke of reverse financing was begun by Colin Hansen's predecessor. Carole Taylor introduced a three-year phase-out of the Corporation Capital Tax, which used to bring in over $100 million annually, mostly from the big banks. This was in response to the federal Harperite's incentive offer of $48 million over two years to compensate for looking after our big bankers, who now pay almost nil into the BC treasury. Trading income of $100 million a year for a one time incentive of $48 million only makes sense if elected representatives are really closet corporate thieves.

     Taylor justified this act of treachery by introducing the Financial Institutions Minimum Tax, which was to kick in this year when the phase-out of the Corporation Capital Tax was complete.

     Guess what. In this budget, Colin Hansen cancelled the Financial Institutions Minimum Tax. The dirty deed is complete and Carole Taylor is now on the board of directors of the TD Bank. Unfortunately Colin Hansen is still with us; keep a tight hand on your wallet.

     The Liberals came into office in 2001 with huge tax cuts for the wealthy and the corporations, and attacks on workers and social spending. This budget is the same bad news for working people. Lower corporate taxes, higher health premiums, new HST taxes, overcrowded schoolrooms, public service wage freeze, privatization, contracting out, higher unemployment, cancellation of re-training for dumped civil service workers, more poor children, closed women's shelters and an almost complete meltdown in most of the resource based interior areas. Isn't capitalism wonderful?

     (Hammond is the BC leader of the Communist Party.)