On the will of the people

The Globe and Mail reports that while the Libs may have assumed that their mini-budget income tax cuts were a popular measure, groups of Canadians chosen to test that theory said otherwise:

Focus groups conducted by Decima Research Inc. to study reaction to the Nov. 14 mini-budget gave Canadians in Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver machines with dials that could be turned from zero to 100. Respondents were asked to turn the dials up when they liked something they heard in former Liberal finance minister Ralph Goodale's economic update speech. And they were told to turn the dial down when they disliked what they heard.

The personal income tax cuts were poorly received as respondents listened to Mr. Goodale's speech.

“When announced, in all of the cities, real-time impressions actually went down by 20-25 points,” the Decima report said.

Focus group discussions found that respondents were cynical about the personal tax cuts. “Most felt that the measures were motivated primarily by political objectives,” the Decima report said...

The Decima focus group report advised the Finance Department that, given the reaction, the government should “minimize discussion of the tax cuts to the extent possible” and highlight other aspects of the mini-budget including the education and skills training spending.

To me, the most interesting contrast is between the public cynicism over tax cuts as compared to the apparent trust from the focus group participants that added investment in education and skills training actually would lead to positive results. While far too many pundits take as gospel the view that tax cuts are invariably a popular policy, it seems clear that those polled on the Libs' cuts felt otherwise. And while there are certainly dangers in reading too much into just this one sample, a government looking to keep the trust of Canada's voters would do well to at least consider the possibility that Canadians still value positive governmental action more than indiscriminate tax cuts.