In an embarrassing mistake for any aspiring Premier – let alone a former Finance Minister – Kevin Falcon incorrectly claimed today that the Employer Health Tax (EHT) was doubling on businesses with payrolls over $1 million. In fact, businesses with payrolls under $1.5 million will be paying less EHT. Businesses with payrolls under $1 million pay no EHT, and there is no change on payrolls over $1.5 million.

Speaking with reporters, Falcon denied the existence of the tax cut and claimed it was actually a tax hike:

Justine Hunter: Business leaders I spoke to in the lockup said that they were happy about some of the tax cuts. They were welcoming tax cuts. Did you agree with those tax cuts?

Kevin Falcon: I’m not sure which tax cuts you’re referring to. I know that the complaint that I heard was that they’re doubling the employer health tax on those businesses that have payrolls of $1m or more. That’s not going to be a message that’s going to be positively received.

Compounding the mistake is the fact he was caught claiming he had heard concerns from businesses about a tax hike that didn’t actually exist.

Video of Falcon’s error is available here.