Brian Topp would love to raise taxes. The federal NDP leadership candidate told the Canadian Press “ I will be talking about income taxes and I think it’s time for our party to step up to that plate” and he didn’t stop there. Topp also wants corporate taxes to go up. And sales taxes? He wouldn’t rule outing raising them as well “at some point.”

Topp says " the goal of aiming for the lowest corporate taxes in the industrialized world is feckless."

"This is a grossly inefficient expenditure of public money on a completely inappropriate priority ... I think tax expenditures aimed at high-income individuals are another inappropriate priority and some of those expenditures should be redeployed."

So let’s get this straight, Brian. Allowing income earners to keep some of their own money, rather than taxing it away from them, is a “tax expenditure.” And you want to “redeploy” that “tax-expenditure.”

And where would this windfall in tax revenue be redeployed? Balancing the budget? Paying back some of the $155 billion borrowed in the past three years by the minority Parliament for stimulus spending? Don’t be silly. Brian Topp wants more spending on health care, social housing, public transit, and municipal infrastructure. Because government simply isn’t spending enough money right now. It needs to spend more.

Here’s a piece of friendly advice to NDP supporters: Jack Layton didn’t move your party from nine seats to 103 with a bunch of crazy talk about raising income taxes, corporate taxes, and sales taxes.

Vote Brian Topp off the island before he restores the NDP to fifth party status.