Nova Scotia’s pre election budget: anger and gratitude

delorey mcneil
Nova Scotia Finance Minister Randy DeLorey looks on as Premier Stephen McNeil speaks in Nova Scotia Legislature 

Premier Stephen McNeil must be listening to Tony Robbins. One of the tenets of the motivational speaker’s philosophy is it’s impossible to be angry and grateful at the same time. McNeil’s recent budget leverages the idea in spades.

CFIB members have been lobbying for tax relief over the last four years. Finance Minister Randy DeLorey delivered one of our key asks, to raise the small business tax threshold from $350,000 to $500,000, giving small business owners the capacity to retain more money in their business to innovate and create employment. Check that box.

Additionally, we’ve been adamant about providing some relief on personal income taxes, especially so lower-income earners can keep more of their earnings.

By raising the basic personal exemption by up to $3,000 for those earning less than $75,000, many low-and-middle-income earners in the province will see more of their paycheck, a much preferable mechanism than raising the minimum wage.

As we’ve argued for years, as a poverty-reduction measure, minimum wage is ineffective because government becomes the principal beneficiary through higher taxes. With this adjustment to the basic personal exemption, thousands more lower-income Nova Scotians will pay no provincial tax at all.

Another positive benefit of the budget for small business owners is the provincial government’s measurable commitment to reduce red tape. This is a principal file for CFIB. We have been supportive of the efforts of this government to put in place the structures to begin reducing unnecessary regulatory burden. Nailing down a target of $25 million in cost to business is the right thing to do.

CFIB members will be grateful for these improvements, which may temper taxpayer anger heading into the predicted provincial election. While these measures are sensible, and should be commended, there is still much work to be done on tax reform to put Nova Scotia in a competitive position.

We remain concerned, however, about the propensity of government to create boutique programs to benefit specific sectors. While there are programs geared toward small business growth in areas such as export and innovation, historically the programs go largely unnoticed or unused.

Leaving more money in the hands of small business owners to reinvest, without forcing them through the rigours of bureaucratic process to access benefits is a far more efficient and desirable approach.

Preparing for an election, it’s not hard to see why this government has chosen the former option. It provides more control over who will be the principal beneficiaries and constituencies. That is a simple political calculation.

Many small business owners remain frustrated by high taxes and governments that seem out of touch or ambivalent to their needs. This is a good start, but it’s only a start.

It has been a very long time since the people in Nova Scotia have seen any meaningful tax relief at all. A morsel can seem like a feast for the starving. Now that the math is done in the Department of Finance, it will, presumably, be put to the people of Nova Scotia to determine if they are indeed grateful or angry.

This post originally appeared in the Chronicle Herald, April 29, 2017 on day prior to the call of the 2017 provincial election.

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