Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, of course the fiscal situation appears to be dire, which means we need to find new revenues or make some cuts. And I think Northerners would much prefer revenues over cuts. So I'd like to ask the Minister of Finance what is our accounts receivable situation? I understand in particular Nunavut does owe us quite a bit of health care costs. Can she speak to how much we're owed as a government? Thank you.
Minister of Finance.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, accounts receivable, March of last year, which would be the last time that it comes out with an actual, was at around $131 million. And of that, there is a significant amount that is due to the Northwest Territories Health and Social Services Authority. There is ongoing work happening within the authority to make sure that they are billing back timely. So every time someone from outside of territory with a different health care card is in the territory, that does create, for example, an accounts receivable balance. And as I said, I know they are alive to it.
I believe the Member has also asked a second question with respect to Nunavut. Mr. Speaker, there is some accounts receivable owing as well. I believe roughly at around $10 to $12 million, and that's where Nunavut residents may be passing through our territory and, again, typically is when they're receiving health and social services here within the Northwest Territories. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Well, that's $131 million is a pretty big chunk of that $150 million. So we've solved our financial challenges if we just collect on our debts. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, that is definitely part of the kind of work that we want to be doing and making a really strong effort to ensure that we are, in fact, adhering to current industry best practices. These are exactly the conversations to be had, not only about making cuts and certainly not about making cuts to programs and services that people depend on, but looking at what we can do to encourage all departments, every agency, to be maintaining the standards to accounts receivable. Right now, that is if invoices are 30 days or more past due, we want to be making sure that every again, every department and every agency and all the authorities are taking those steps. It can creep up incrementally in one department or one agency and that was what will lead us into a bad situation. That can't happen, Mr. Speaker. I'm committed to following through on that. That's exactly why we're putting ourselves forward with an ambitious fiscal response or a fiscal plan, and I appreciate bringing attention to it. Thank you
Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and thank you to the Minister for those commitments. The GNWT has often whispered about a sales tax in the past. Is the sales tax going to be on the table for this government? Thank you.
Pretty quiet whispers, Mr. Speaker. I don't think I've heard anyone whispering those words. Sales tax at this point would obviously have a pretty significant cost increase to individuals and residents. We are already finding that the cost of living anecdotally people say all the time the cost of living is very high. And the recent years and a number of challenges we faced have only made those challenges worse for everyone. So there's no whispers of a sales tax at this point, Mr. Speaker. We're going to have to see what we can do with the government to make sure that we're best utilizing our funds in a way that delivers programs and services but can also bring our fiscal house into order. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister of Finance. Member from Range Lake. Final supplementary.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you to the Minister. So another area that Northerners often talk about is taxing people who work in the Northwest Territories but don't live here. We have a payroll tax system and a tax benefit that accomplishes that. Are we maximizing those benefits to the Northwest Territories' public purse through that system? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, there is certainly a concern that gets raised that too many people are working in the North, benefitting from high median wages, which do maintain ours too continue to be very high and yet aren't actually providing to any sort of tax revenue here. So with that in mind, some years ago, a payroll tax at 2 percent of employment income was imposed. And we bring about $48 million in payroll tax. About $10 million of that is coming from nonresident workers, Mr. Speaker. So as far as we're maximizing it, obviously increased taxes you increase revenues, but at some point you do start to have impacts on local residents. It is offset for local residents because there are other tax measures, such as the northern resident deduction, available to those who stay in the North. They're not the two aren't tied together but in that sense while you might be paying the right payroll tax here if you live here, you're also getting some significant tax benefits.
Mr. Speaker, asking, though, if we were to change if you change any of these systems, you always increase revenue, but you may be impacting on residents, and that's the balance we have to strike. Thank you.
Minister of Finance. Oral questions. Member from Great Slave.
