No one likes tax increases.
And no one particularly likes programming cuts.
The Saskatchewan Party knows that, so in last year’s budget they offloaded cuts to municipalities, letting local governments cut programming, or hike taxes.
That strategy may well be used again when the new budget drops in April, but in the meantime the provincial government is adding some new tax revenues wrapped up in the guise of fee increases.
It starts with one that is hard to criticize since you only pay it if you break the law, but it is still primarily a back-door tax.
Drivers who speed in Saskatchewan will soon have to pay more. Starting May 1, the base amount on all speeding fines will increase by $30 and the fine per kilometre over the speed limit will double.
The province expects to collect an extra $6.4 million per year in revenue from the fine increases.
Since the province is anticipating an increase in revenue it doesn’t even come across as a speeding deterrent.
Then there are recycling fees.
The government is expected to see an additional $10.2 million, will come from a two-cent increase on all refundable beverage containers in the province. Effective April 1, the environmental handling charges will cost consumers five cents for tetra cartons, seven cents for aluminum cans, eight cents for plastic jugs/bottles and nine cents for glass containers.
This will not mean an increase the amount of refundable deposits to correspond to the increases.
Overall fee increases will mean an extra $18 million to the government from the pockets of Saskatchewan citizens.
That is $18 million people won’t be spending at a specialty olive oil store, or frozen yogurt shop, or local shoe store.
And such small businesses are feeling the pinch these days. Some point accusing fingers at online buying trends, but there has always been competition from afar.
It was not so long ago Eaton’s and Sears catalogues were an important avenue to goods. You could even purchase a house package at one time.
Similarly Princess Auto and SIR sold a wide range of products into Saskatchewan through catalogue sales.
So competition will come from a range of places in terms of business. You need to be competitive.
But business can’t prosper when the money their customers have to spend shrinks year-by-year.
Last year it was a one per cent increase on provincial sales tax.
The last two years it has been nearly 15 per cent on municipal property taxes.
Last October, the Government of Saskatchewan approved an increase to SaskEnergy’s Delivery Service Rate of 3.6 per cent effective last November
Effective this month SaskPower rates went up 3.5 per cent.
And now the new fees noted above.
Every one of the added costs we face in our day-to-day lives of keeping our homes warm, the lights on, the taxes paid and milk in more expensive containers on the table means less dollars to spend in other stores.
The Saskatchewan government didn’t manage to put enough money into savings through the best times in the province’s history to offset the downturn in the economy everyone but former Brad Wall and his caucus knew would arrive sooner or later.
So now they have to balance the books and they are doing that by taking money from any pocket close enough to pick.
And we wonder why the economy continues to slow?
