Stephen Harper Lied in an Attack Ad. Say it ain't So

In the 'Bull Meter' Ericia Alini takes a shot at the Conservative claim that "Ignatieff voted for an iPod tax of up to $75" - Conservative attack ad April 3, 2011

Apparently totally false.

The claim a $75 levy was ever on the table—and that it was supported by the Liberals—is dubious for two reasons: first, contrary to Conservative claims, the Copyright Board never suggested the levy should be up to $75. That amount was proposed by a non-profit called the Canadian Private Copying Collective, which collects and distributes private copying royalties. But while they may not be the ones who collect it, it’s the Copyright Board that fixes levies on MP3 players, such as the ones that were in place until a December 2004 Federal Court decision struck them down. These ranged from $2 to $25.

Secondly, the Liberals changed their policy on taxing digital audio devices in December and have explicitly rejected the notion of an “iPod levy.” They now support compensating artists with a yearly transfer of $35 million.

The GST quote was made when several of Canada's leading economists were suggesting that the cut to the GST was the worst possible cut to our revenue source.

The worst tax, and the one most people are complaining about is the HST and that was Jim Flaherty's and Stephen Harper's baby.

Jim Flaherty, Oct. 23, 2008. Being from Ontario, as you may have heard, I have a bit of a challenge with my provincial government and I’m gently nudging Premier McGuinty and the Government of Ontario and encouraging them in the direction of reducing the burden of business taxes in that province and, importantly, since that province and a few others are not harmonized, to harmonize the PST and the GST in those provinces, which would be the single most important step that could be done to help relieve the tax burden on business … we need harmonization of sales taxes in some provinces

From Stephen Harper's 2008 budget:

"Replacing remaining provincial retail sales taxes (RSTs) with value-added taxes harmonized with the GST is another area where provinces can contribute to strengthening Canada's Tax Advantage. Provincial RSTs impair competitiveness because they apply to business inputs, increasing production costs and deterring investment. By comparison, a value-added tax system provides most businesses with full tax relief through the input tax credit mechanism. Provincial sales tax harmonization is the single most important step provinces with RSTs could take to improve the competitiveness of Canadian businesses."

He was not the "father of the carbon tax", but the Green shift plan was the work of Stephane Dion and applauded by Nobel prize winning environmentalists. It was both transparent and revenue neutral.

They just lie and it doesn't matter. Nobody questions anything they say.

And they are also currently lying about supporting the CBC.

At the direction of the Prime Minister's Office, Conservative MPs have engaged in a national campaign to mislead voters concerning the Harper government's investment in the CBC. In reply to messages from constituents who have written to express concern about the future of the CBC, at least eighty Conservative MPs have stated in correspondence that:

"In fact, this government has increased support to CBC in every one of our budgets. This year the CBC is receiving $1.1 billion dollars in funding - this being the highest amount of funding ever allotted to the CBC - more than any government in Canadian history. " This statement is false.