The upstart Saskatchewan United Party is pitching a bold plan to cut the PST in half, slash bureaucracy and reform potash royalties.
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John Hromek cites unexpected sources when explaining his plan to collect more in potash resource royalties to fund a massive slash in Saskatchewan’s provincial sales tax.
In an interview last week, the leader of the province’s right-wing Saskatchewan United Party referenced arguments by former Regina NDP MP Erin Weir and former Saskatchewan NDP finance minister Eric Cline for a revamped system for potash resource royalties.
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Hromek wants to use the money from a revised potash royalty regime and deep cuts to provincial government bureaucracy to fund what is sure to become the party’s signature pledge in its first provincial election.
He wants to cut the provincial sales tax in half from six per cent to three per cent and eliminate the gas tax. And Hromek, who became the party’s leader in the spring after finishing second in the Lumsden-Morse byelection last August, knows how that sounds.
“I get it that, you know, it’s bold,” Hromek said. “It’s a bold statement.”
It’s better defined as a $2-billion statement because that’s how much money would be needed to cut in half the PST (worth nearly $3 billion in the current budget) and remove the gas tax (worth more than half a billion).
But Hromek is “confident” the promise will remain in his upstart party’s platform for the October election.
He said the marginal effective tax rate for potash is both inconsistent — a common criticism levelled by Weir and Cline, among others — and far lower than other sectors like construction (32 per cent) and oil and gas (37 per cent).
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“Our potash is owned by the people of Saskatchewan, and we’re going to stand up and make sure that they’re getting their fair share,” he said.
If potash is managed properly, it can benefit Saskatchewan the same way oil benefits Alberta, the former oil and gas exploration executive explained. He noted Alberta has no provincial sales tax.
Hromek also mocked the Saskatchewan Party government for fighting the federal Liberal regime over $28 million in carbon tax on natural gas for home heating, which the province has refused to collect.
Yet, Hromek pointed out, the same provincial government is collecting hundreds of millions of dollars a year in carbon tax on industrial polluters, which it calls “output based performance standards.” And there’s $500 million-plus more with the gas tax.
As for the bureaucracy, he said its growth far outpaces the population, ballooning by 37 per cent between 2007, when the government was first elected, and 2022.
Since the last election in 2020, Hromek estimates government salaries and benefits have expanded 25 per cent, including 10 per cent last year alone.
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Hromek replaced former Saskatchewan Party MLA Nadine Wilson as United leader after the spring legislative session. The Lumsden-Morse byelection marked the party’s first electoral test; Hromek plans to run in the same seat in October.
Hromek confirmed the party plans to nominate candidates to compete in all 61 races and dismissed concerns about splitting the right-wing vote, especially in urban seats.
The eight candidates nominated so far include one each in Regina and Saskatoon. More will be announced soon, Hromek promised.
Party polling shows about a third of voters are committed to voting for the NDP in the cities, he said. So he figures the rest of the voters are up for grabs, with many tired of the government.
The provincial Progressive Conservatives are also planning to run candidates in every race and have so far nominated nine, including six in Regina. The Buffalo Party did not reply to an inquiry.
Hromek said urban voters are looking for a “common sense type of approach.”
But that approach dismisses action on or even acknowledgement of climate change in a province choked by smoke from forest fires again this summer.
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Hromek shared an article from an Estevan-based website Monday on social media in which he denies carbon dioxide is a pollutant and adds, “We’re going to burn coal until we run out of coal.”
As with his tax cut plan, you may well wonder on what planet Hromek is living.
Phil Tank is the digital opinion editor at the Saskatoon StarPhoenix.
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