Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions today are for the Minister of Finance. Mr. Speaker, I raised the issue of the payroll tax on the request of a constituent. The payroll tax has been a thorn in the side of Northerners for a long time now. I’d like to ask the Minister of Finance what precipitated, what made the government think it would be a good idea to raise it from already what was bad enough at 1 percent to 2 percent. Thank you.
Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. The honourable Minister responsible for Finance, Mr. Miltenberger.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Member herself gave a fairly good history in her Member’s statement about the payroll tax, why it was implemented, why it was raised, as she ended her statement with the cry to axe the tax and get off the back of the people of the Northwest Territories. The Member did a very good job of that herself. Thank you.
Let me ask myself another question now.
---Laughter
Mr. Speaker, the payroll tax, the rationale for it was understood when it was put in place in 1993 in that we had a lot of people that were beginning to work in the Northwest Territories who did not reside here. I know the federal government doesn’t want to hear us say this because there’s supposed to be free access and mobility within Canada. They don’t want to hear us say that we did it to tax fly-in/fly-out workers, but that was the rationale for it. As I said, with the rebates that were in place at the time under our tax system it was somewhat bearable, but once it went to 2 percent and the tax credits did not affect the people in the higher income bracket it became burdensome and now with the costs of living... We talk about cost of living all this time in this House…
Do you have a question, Mrs. Groenewegen?
It’s coming, yes. Sorry. I’d like to ask the Minister, can we revert to the 1 percent tax and what would that cost this government. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, we just this past Friday gave third reading and assent to the budget for this coming year so we are set, but as we plan for the end of this Assembly and we look at our transition items, I would suggest to the Member that that would possibly be an issue to consider and for inclusion in the transition document, recognizing that while people may find taxes burdensome, they are also the fuel that allows government to work and deliver the very many programs that people expect of it. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, the Minister suggests that this is something that could be noted in a transitional document to the 17th Assembly. Is this something that the Program Review Office could take a look at to see if there is some other source of this much revenue that we do not have to take from our residents? Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, I would be glad to put that issue on the table for our next meeting with the program review folks. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. The honourable Member for Nahendeh, Mr. Menicoche.
