Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We have a revenue problem. It’s no surprise that when the Minister of Finance was gathering views of NWT residents during his Budget Dialogue 2014, no one called for lower taxes. Indeed, some suggested increasing revenues through smarter taxation and improved royalties.
The need for investment in sustainable energy infrastructure, home retrofits, early childhood education, adequate housing, job training and addictions is obvious. Expenses are going up. How can we address this need? Shifting to a smarter tax approach is a good start.
Reducing taxes on low and middle income earners balanced by slightly higher ones for high income earners would help with cost of living, attracting new residents and retaining current ones, both yielding federal transfer revenues.
Sin taxes are a natural target and we’ve acted on these for tobacco and alcohol, but let’s recognize that the definition of “sin” includes pollution, and start making polluters pay instead of blindly accepting these health and environment costs with no ability to pay.
With no revisions since 1997, the NWT’s transportation fuel taxes are significantly below the national average, yet fossil fuel prices have gone through the roof since then. We don’t even tax a penny on natural gas and propane. Economists have shown that, done smartly, establishing a price on pollution, including carbon, would help us to capture industry innovation and reduce cost of living while improving our job numbers with other benefits.
Some corporations reduce northern tax payments by using creative accounting techniques and using commuting labour from afar. A capital tax would help make sure they pay their fair share. Another untapped revenue source is a resource income tax, which could contribute to our Heritage Fund and help smooth out the boom and bust nature of our resource economy.
Hotel and airport departure taxes, common throughout Canada, are unlikely to affect tourism, considering their small proportion of overall travel costs.
While yearly increasing our subsidies to the extractive industry, the Minister was consulting with the public about our budget. In those consultations, people were clear in demanding more than the promise of a few jobs over the life of hugely profitable projects in exchange for our non-renewable resources.
Mr. Speaker, I seek unanimous consent to conclude my statement. Mahsi.
---Unanimous consent granted
A better balance is needed. The resources of the North belong to the people. They are valuable and they are being exploited with too little public benefit for owners of the resource.
A revenue tune-up is long overdue, but I acknowledge it will take courage to get it done. Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Bromley. Colleagues, before we go on today, I would like to welcome our honourable table officer and a man who needs no introduction here in the House, Mr. Anthony W.J. Whitford. Welcome back to the House today, Tony.
---Applause
The honourable Member for Deh Cho, Mr. Nadli.
