For immediate release:
June 04, 2007

McGuinty pledges not to raise taxes – Again?
Barrett condemns long list of tax and fee hikes since 2003

Queen’s Park—MPP Toby Barrett cautioned Ontarians about the Premier’s most recent promise not to raise taxes, today in the Ontario Legislature.

“In today’s National Post we read a headline, ‘McGuinty pledges not to raise taxes'," Barrett said in the Ontario Legislature. “This is déjà vu all over again.

“In 2003, Dalton McGuinty went on TV to promise he wouldn’t raise our taxes,” Barrett continued. “And then he brought in the largest personal income tax increase in the history of Ontario.”

Barrett went on to list seven other increased taxes, in addition to increased electricity rates and increased driver’s license fees.

The remarks came amidst media reports that Premier McGuinty is again asking Ontarians to trust him not to raise their taxes, despite his stunning about-face in 2003.

“An increased fee is a tax, a cancelled tax cut is essentially a tax, a health tax is a tax,” Barrett informed other MPPs before issuing a warning. “A promise from Dalton McGuinty appears to be a future broken promise.”

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For more information, please contact MPP Toby Barrett at: (416) 325-8404,
(519) 428-0446, or 1-800-903-8629