Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in my Member's statement, I talked about how important it is to support small businesses. The federal government has cut the small business tax rate by 1.5 per cent, and I would like to ask the Minister of Finance if he is prepared to bring forward a tax plan to reduce taxes on small business as we have committed to in the mandate of the 18th Assembly. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Minister of Finance.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the federal proposal I believe is costing the federal treasury about $3 billion. A similar proposal would cost us about $750,000, so it is not something that we are contemplating at this moment.
It is true that any cut to the tax rate is going to decrease revenues, but increased productivity and prosperity in our business community, that is, 98 per cent of the economy, will help create jobs and give businesses more resources to invest back into the economy. The Government of Yukon has cut their small business tax rates, so the Northwest Territories seems to be standing still. Is the Minister willing to revisit this issue at any time in this term?
Mr. Speaker, we appreciate the contribution of small businesses across the Northwest Territories. That is why we believe we have many other programs that are in place to help the businesses grow. I think we have demonstrated that just recently with working with one of the local manufacturing companies to come up with a benefit that would be beneficial to them, and not only to them, to the consumers, so we believe we have programs in place. I take the Member's point about it being a part of the mandate, but the mandate is for four years, so we still have two years left.
So we have got two years left to implement this tax cut. Is it going to get done? I did not hear a clear answer. If not, can the Minister at least stand up and say it is a broken promise?
Mr. Speaker, we have two years left in this mandate. It was not a promise that I made, so it is not going to be a broken promise. I understand that it was part of the mandate, but again, the mandate was for four years, not two.
Oral questions. Member for Kam Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I do not want to question the Minister's math, but we have had two years to cut the tax. We have not done it. We have got two years left to cut the tax. That is what we are talking about here. Mr. Speaker, the reason why a tax proposal like this is good is because it affects everyone equally. It is not a program that is going to be oversubscribed or underfunded. This is something that every business can benefit from, so, if we are not going to cut taxes, then are we going to roll out some tax credits? Especially as the new carbon tax comes out, are we going to roll out some tax credits for businesses that can take advantage of some of that carbon tax revenue and put that revenue back in their businesses? Are we going to roll out tax credits for these businesses that work so hard to support our communities?
Mr. Speaker, I recognize the fact that these small businesses, they work hard, and they provide a service to consumers, and they keep people employed. As I said before, we believe that we have a system in place that helps to try to grow their business. If there are other ways we can look at it, the carbon tax the Member speaks about and the carbon credit, I mean, that is something that, as I said, I think in this House that we are still looking at. We are trying to mitigate the impacts as much as we can on businesses and people in the Northwest Territories, so it is something we continue to look at. At the end of the day, our goal is to try to grow the economy. As I said before, $750,000, you know, there are ways that we could put that into businesses across the territory to help grow their business as part of our full suite of programs we offer, then it is something that we will consider. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Sahtu.
