Saskatchewan government introduces new ‘affordability’ measures

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The newly-elected provincial government has brought forward an affordability bill focused on reducing taxes and offering incentives, as promised in the Saskatchewan Party’s fall election platform.

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The Saskatchewan Affordability Act was introduced onto the floor of the legislative assembly Monday afternoon.

The act contains 13 “affordability commitments,” said the government in a news release.

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At the heart is a move to raise the personal, spousal and child tax exemptions, as well as the seniors supplement, by $500 over the next four years. This was one of the first big pledges made by Premier Scott Moe on the election trail back in October.

Finance Minister Jim Reiter said the affordability act responds to concerns heard during that campaign about rising cost-of-living pressures.

“We know these issues are not unique to our province, but we are taking action to make life more affordable for all Saskatchewan residents and families, while ensuring we still maintain a strong economy,” Reiter said in the release.

The minister teased the bill last week after it was mentioned in the throne speech at the outset of the 30th legislative sitting.

The act also includes adjustments to the following other tax credits:

• raising the low-income tax credit by five per cent each year over the next four years;
• raising the disability tax credit, the disability tax credit supplement for children under 18, and the caregiver tax credit by 25 per cent each;
• doubling the active families benefit and increasing the qualifying income threshold;
• boosting the post-secondary graduate retention program’s benefits by 20 per cent, bringing the average rebate for a four-year degree to $24,000 from $20,000;
• increasing the provincial first-time homebuyers’ credit by 50 per cent;
• raising the amount of savings possible from the home renovation tax credit to $420 per year, and $525 per year for seniors.

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All tax credits impacted under the act will also be subject to tax indexing to offset inflation and avoid bracket creep for Saskatchewan residents, said the release.

“The Saskatchewan Affordability Act will reduce income taxes for every resident, family and small business in our province,” said Reiter in the release.

Opposition Leader Carla Beck speared the bill during question period, citing Reiter’s statement from last week that taxpayers wouldn’t see any of these savings in hand until 2026.

“That’s more than a year from now for Saskatchewan families to wait,” she said. “If this government had been listening, they’d understand that Saskatchewan people cannot wait until 2026 to get the relief they need.”

Beck asked why Sask. Party MLAs moved to block emergency bills proposed last week by the Opposition to immediately pause the 15-cent provincial gas tax and the provincial sales tax on groceries as temporary measures.

The emergency actions failed as walk-on bills because the government used its majority to stop debate on adopting the NDP’s proposals from the fall campaign.

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Reiter countered that “PST isn’t on groceries” and repeated — as he told the media last week — that the act’s measures will be more impactful as they “are permanent.”

“We are taking affordability measures very, very seriously,” said Reiter.

— with files from Jennifer Ackerman, Alec Salloum and the Saskatoon StarPhoenix’s Michael Joel-Hanson

lkurz@postmedia.com

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