Anti-poverty group says NDP “blew it”
Posted Nov 7, 2012 05:58:23 AM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
The Dexter government has received a tongue-lashing from an anti-poverty group for its lack of efforts in helping Nova Scotians living in poverty.
The Face of Poverty group spoke before a legislative committee Tuesday as the government tried to glean how well its efforts have been received since it took office three years ago.
“They’ve tweaked the system a little bit, but they haven’t made a major dent. They haven’t really instituted any major budget allocation for poverty reduction…they weren’t doing things that were making a big change in the lives of poor people in Nova Scotia,” spokesperson Michael Bradfield told the Rick Howe Show following the committee meeting.
Bradfield said his message to the committee was twofold: more needs to be done to help the poor, and it’s not true that government can’t afford to help the poor.
The former economist said he expected a social democratic government to be more progressive with the tax system, but instead the New Democrats have been more cautious.
The Dexter government raised the Harmonized Sales Tax by two percentage points when they took office in 2009 with the promise of lowering the HST by the end of their term. Bradfield said the 15 per cent tax puts more strain on lower-income citizens.
“The biggest example to me of how an opportunity to correct a fiscal problem, while also not making the tax system more regressive…and they blew it,” said Bradfield.
Bradfield said they should have shifted the tax load onto society’s wealthy by instituting changes in higher income tax brackets.
He points to tax cuts for the wealthy across Canada, including Nova Scotia, and suggests revenue gained from taxing the rich could be put towards funding and expanding anti-poverty programs.
The longtime NDP supporter went so far as to suggest his political ties could be swayed over the issue.
“I would support a candidate who would move government to a more progressive position than they’ve had so far,” Bradfield told the talk show.
