April 26, 2000

Honourable Greg Selinger, Minister of Finance
103 Legislative Building
450 Broadway
Winnipeg, MB R3C 0V8





Dear Mr. Selinger:

In the lead up to the 2000 Provincial Budget, the Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF) presented a series of budget recommendations to you and the Premier.

Once it was announced that Manitoba would de-link from the federal Income Tax system one year earlier than scheduled by the previous government, the CTF moved to generate support for an income tax reform model.

Between March 1st and April 20th, we generated approximately 800 signatures on a petition supporting a reformed income tax system calculated on income.

The petitions support your government's decision to de-link from Ottawa with the following conditions:

De-linking should favour taxpayers, not bureaucracies. All federal tax cuts that would have accrued to Manitoba taxpayers under the old calculation method should be restored through provincial tax cuts. In the case of the latest federal budget, that translated into $50-million;

End provincial bracket creep by fully indexing and restoring personal income tax brackets and credits to inflation; and,

Eliminate the 2 percent flat tax and the 2 percent surtax.

Although modest in numbers, the petition was circulated over a short period of only 37 business days.

Providing these recommendations from the petition find their way into the 2000 Manitoba Budget, you can count on the Canadian Taxpayers Federation's support on budget day.

Yours truly