Since we’re about to head into NHL playoff season (well, at least those of us lucky enough to live in Vancouver or Ottawa), I thought it would be a good time for a quick hat trick—three items making news in BC today.

#1 The Property Transfer Tax turns 25 years old. Lynda Steele over at CTV has an in-depth piece on this one. I suspect many thousands of home buyers have been stunned when this bill rolls in. It’s a total cash grab, yet it persists decades after then-Premier Bill Vander Zalm brought it in. From her story:

Since it was brought in, B.C. home buyers have paid nearly $12 billion worth of property transfer taxes -- money that goes straight into provincial coffers.

"[It's] $900-million bucks a year. They have no idea how to ratchet down their addiction to this money," said Jordan Bateman of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation.

Bateman said the transfer tax is a cash cow that hurts B.C. families, but the Liberals can't easily cut it because it's a substantial earner.

Free enterprise governments have long professed their hatred for the PTT, yet it still exists.

#2 National Post columnist Kelly McParland absolutely rips Ed Broadbent’s claim that Canadian taxpayers would be thrilled to pay for more government services. If this were a prizefight, it wouldn’t have made it out of the first round. Broadbent released a poll that said:

Almost two-thirds (64 per cent) of Canadians are willing to pay slightly higher taxes if that’s what it would take to protect our social programs. A majority of Conservative voters (58 per cent) are willing to pay more taxes to protect social programs, while Liberal and NDP voters are even more supportive: 72 per cent of them would pay more.

I could spend a few paragraphs debunking the flaws in this one, but McParland has already done so:

The obvious problem with the Broadbent poll is … everything. According to Mr. Broadbent, Canadians are open to higher taxes “if that’s what it would take” to protect social programs. But run for office on that premise, and he might just discover that most Canadians don’t really think “that’s what it would take.” They’d more likely think improved efficiency, less bureaucracy, and more control on costs and salaries would do the trick.

It’s also evident, from the questions relating to an inheritance tax and corporate taxes, that Canadians are in favour of higher taxes when they only apply to other people. Tax corporations? Sure, go ahead. Tax rich people? Yeah, great idea. Tax me? Hey, wait a minute buster.

The Liberal party tried a similar strategy when it concluded, thanks in part to polls, that Canadians overwhelmingly favoured much greater efforts to protect the environment. Stephane Dion bundled it into a national strategy called the Green Shift, bet his leadership on it, and got walloped. Because Canadians really do favour more environmental protection. They just aren’t willing to pay for it with taxes, lost jobs or serious inconvenience.

#3 The CTF releases a poll showing that four out of five British Columbians think compensation for government employees should be the same as the private sector (stay tuned to Taxpayer.com for an op/ed piece on this one). The survey made it all the way to a Premier Christy Clark press conference today. From the Vancouver Sun:

B.C. Premier Christy Clark said she hasn't had a chance to examine the taxpayer federation's survey in detail, but said she is going to give the idea of pay equity "some serious thought."

In response to a reporter's question at a press conference to announce funding for a new mental health facility at Vancouver General Hospital, the premier said pay equity is an "interesting concept."

"I can understand why it intuitively appeals to taxpayers because most people are out there in the private sector earning a living, and paying for the public sector out of those paycheques," said Clark.