Another sign that 2013 is shaping up just like 1999

Pressure is already growing on B.C. NDP leader Adrian Dix to execute a massive tax grab if he wins office . This is the exact same thing that occurred in British Columbia when the New Democrats came into office in 1999.

The Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives issued a paper this week urging up to $3.5 billion in extra taxes.

In 1991, Mike Harcourt toppled the Social Credit’s free-enterprise coalition after running a campaign in which he claimed to be a business-friendly premier who would bring in no new taxes.

Under his leadership the new government promptly caved in to tax-and-spend pressure and commenced its “lost decade”with a $1.6 billion tax hike.

The policy foundations for that move were laid down in a 1991 academic paper that argued “high-income earners and holders of wealth got that way through luck and should pay more tax.”

Murray Rankin, the NDP MP for Victoria who recently helped Dix craft his current opposition to the Northern Gateway pipeline, was an author of the paper.

The scenario today is eerily similar.

According to the CCPA this week, in 2013 “low taxes are not a source of strength — instead, they are part of what’s holding us back.”

The think tank makes no effort to dispute the fact that over 12 years of the B.C. Liberal government, a low-tax environment has been created.

The new paper demonizes British Columbia leaders who “have boasted about having the lowest taxes in the country for almost all individuals,” saying that delivering this cornerstone of three electoral mandates is “nothing to be proud of.”

Like Harcourt, Dix is unlikely to campaign on tax increases – except for those over $150,000 as he has already stated. Also like Harcourt, Dix will try to stick with his current “business friendly” messaging through the election campaign.

In 1999, Harcourt did the chamber of commerce circuit just as Dix is doing today, saying basically the same things.

For example:

Mike Harcourt (beard) and Adrian Dix (no beard)

“Don’t forget, I’m the son of an insurance salesman. I know the importance of finding new business and closing deals.”

What actually happened is well documented.

And to think it all started with a policy paper.