Fate of Wynne’s tax-and-spend budget in NDP’s hands

Ambitious, expensive and left leaning, the new budget from Kathleen Wynne claims to know what’s best for you and the province.

Spending more and taxing more, the Liberals are increasing the deficit, but maintain the government can still achieve balance in 2017/2018. The short term increase in red ink, says the government, will help spur investment, revenue, and will wrap you in the loving arms of a strengthened social safety net.

The activist budget says you are not saving enough money to retire, so you need to be enrolled in a new Ontario Registered Pension Plan. Starting in 2017, someone making $45,000 a year will have an extra $788 a year deducted from their pay check, an amount to be matched by employers.

This dear voter is meant to keep you from abject poverty in your golden years. It’s not a tax, say Liberal strategists, it’s an investment in your future.

What is unquestionably a tax is an increase in the cost of cigarettes, which we all know is something you shouldn’t be buying anyway, so it’s in your best interest to stop. Not right away mind you, because the government is counting on an extra $140 million this year from all you puffers.

READ MORE: 5 items in Ontario budget that will consumers’ pocketbooks

As for you Richie-Rich Lexus-driving more-money-than-sense people out there, it’s time to pay more because you make too much. If you earn above $150,000 a year you’ll find yourself in a new tax bracket. Turns out this province isn’t exactly brimming with Warren Buffetts, because the government estimates only 220,000 people in a province of 13.5 million will be hit with the new tax.

The 2014 Budget is an abrupt change from Dalton McGuinty’s last budget as Premier in 2012 with it’s focus on cutting back program spending to control the deficit.

Under Kathleen Wynne’s left tilting leadership, the Liberals have returned to a stance of spending their way to prosperity. In fact the 2014 budget adds an extra $3 billion dollars in program spending.

Proclaiming herself the social justice Premier in her bid to win the Liberal leadership, the increases in wages for child care and home care workers may be a matter of personal faith for Kathleen Wynne, but also has the added benefit of making this budget difficult to reject for the NDP.

Andrea Horwath was playing coy on budget day about whether her party will bring down the government and force an election or prop up the Liberals for the third year in a row.

The calculation for Horwath is how tough a vote against schemes like an Ontario Registered Pension Plan, which was originally an NDP idea, will play in urban ridings where New Democrats count on support. Can Horwath really say no to more money for hospitals, schools and jobs for youth?

Certainly she can. The Liberals have yet to deliver on several key promises made to appease the NDP last year.

Auto insurance rates may be down slightly, but nowhere near the 15 per cent New Democrats had demanded. The Financial Accountability Office promised by Kathleen Wynne in 2013 still has not materialized.

Horwath can point to these examples and say this government cannot be trusted. For the New Democrats, even if the budget promised each day would begin with the singing of Solidarity Forever, that would not be worth the paper it’s printed on.

As the NDP mulls over its options, Kathleen Wynne wants you to know she’s looking out for you. She’s thinking about your retirement, about how long your commute is, and your health and well being.

Do you get a say in all of this?

Possibly. But only after Andrea Horwath gets her say first.