Mr. Speaker, in my Member’s statement I spoke again about the amount of money that’s leaving the Northwest Territories through migrant workers and industry. I’d like to pose my question today to the Minister of Finance.
With $330 million just from the migrant workers alone, there are lots of people, I believe, who continue to leave the Northwest Territories. I’d like to ask the Minister: do we receive any money from workers or industries who are working in the Northwest Territories?
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Minister of Finance, Mr. Miltenberger.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We have a 2 per cent payroll tax, which was designed with the goal of trying to in fact be able to recoup some of the money that the fly in/fly out workers are taking with them as they head back to the other jurisdictions where they live.
Mr. Speaker, if the migrant worker is hired out of Alberta, for example, and the company’s home base is in Alberta, do we get 2 per cent payroll tax out of those workers?
Everybody who works in the North pays payroll tax, except for the self-employed. Then what we do is refund through the cost of living program to Northerners. So folks who don’t live in the North pay the 2 per cent, and that comes back to the government.
Mr. Speaker, I thank the Minister for that. So if I’m to understand — and I thought I heard differently, that the migrant workers do not pay the 2 per cent…. But I believe the Minister just said that they do pay the 2 per cent tax. So that aside, do we receive any other monies from developments or industry on behalf of these migrant workers who work in the Northwest Territories?
Every worker who works for a wage in the Northwest Territories pays the payroll tax, including the migrant workers, as referred to by the Member. They take with them the rest of the pay they make, and they file their income tax in the jurisdiction where they reside, which is one of the major concerns we have, of course, as a Legislature and as a government: that revenue is not here. They’re not living in the North. They don’t have houses. They’re not paying local taxes. They’re not paying income tax, and they’re not supporting the northern infrastructure.
Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Final supplementary, Mr. McLeod.
Mr. Speaker, if their home base is in Alberta, their payroll is generated in Alberta and their company base is in Alberta, how do we recover the 2 per cent? Does the company pay the Northwest Territories government the 2 per cent that is recovered from the employees?
As pay is issued, that’s one of the deductions that has to be made against the worker’s pay in the Northwest Territories. As cheques are issued in the North for the work that’s done in the North, that deduction is made, and then that deduction flows back to the government.
Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. The honourable Member for Yellowknife Centre, Mr. Hawkins.
