Obviously, no one likes to pay more taxes.
And no one likely understands this better than Premier Brad Wall, whose electoral success can be somewhat attributed to issues like removing much of the education property tax on agricultural land.
A recent poll by a Toronto-based company suggested 73 per cent of Saskatchewan people would prefer spending cuts to tax hikes as a means to balance next month’s provincial budget.
So notwithstanding the reality that tax hikes might be an easier and perhaps even a better solution for Wall’s government to make up the $600 to $800-million budget revenue shortfall from falling oil prices, it would seem that cutting government spending is Wall’s only real political option.
Given that provincial government spending has increased 71 per cent in the seven years that Wall has been in office, one might even go as far as to suggest that he is somewhat obligated to look at the spending side of the ledger first.
But Wall should have come clean at the recent Saskatchewan Urban Municipalities Association and confirmed his government’s election promise that municipalities receive one percentage point of five-per-cent provincial sales tax – 20 per cent of all PST revenue, which has afforded towns, cities, villages, hamlets and RMs some stability in their budget planning.
Of course, there are many reasons why Wall might have felt it necessary to keep the municipalities guessing, the least becoming of which would be the ones related to politics.
By suggesting at SUMA recently that even cities and towns can’t necessarily expect what they got last year sends a strong message that the budget concerns are to be taken seriously. And if and when the province does come through with full funding to the municipalities, it certainly adds a little high political drama, doesn’t it?
Finally, that $600 to $800-million revenue drop is hardly a drop in the bucket. It could be that the Sask. Party is still struggling with its final decisions for the 2015-16 budget.
Really, though, the government shouldn’t be struggling with such a decision by this point. Unfortunately, it has hamstrung itself by deciding it wants to proceed with big, costly infrastructure projects, tax cuts to business and no tax increases. Contrary to what Wall told SUMA, not everything is on the table.
But why his commitment to municipalities is perhaps the one thing that should be maintained has much to do with that notion that people don’t want tax increases.
Under previous NDP governments, when municipalities were legally required to run surpluses, they did not know what they were getting from the province until provincial budget day. Because of this, tax increases were often unavoidable.
But by tying revenue to the previous year’s PST collection, everyone has had the luxury of predictable funding from government.
Consider what various communities received in municipal revenue sharing in 2013-14, according to public accounts: Assinboia, $541,659; Balgonie, $364,682; Big River, $144,633; Broadview, $130,127; Canora, $497,248; Carlyle, $323,618; Davidson, $230,778; Esterhazy, $553,711; Estevan, $2,350,915; Eston, $232,117; Fort Qu’Appelle, $455,960; Foam Lake, $258,228; Gravelbourg, $251,087; Hudson Bay, $337,678; Herbert, $171,414; Humboldt, $1,207,572; Indian Head, $407,085; Kamsack, $409,317; Kelvington, $199,454; Kindersley, $1,046,032; Langenburg, $258,228; Lloydminster, $2,078,365; Maple Creek, $487,651; Meadow Lake, $1,072,948; Melfort,$1,185,879; |Melville, $966,823; Moosomim, $556,612; Nipawin, $953,861; North Battleford,$2,952,638; Preeceville, $240,821; Radville, $193,954; Rocanville, $193,285; Spiritwood, $206,452; Wadena, $221,851; Watson, $175,421; Weyburn, $2,229,690; Whitewood, $214,040, Wolseley, $194,847, Wynyard, $396,373, and; Yortkon, $3,332,413.
In all cases, we are talking about both a sizeable portion of the community’s annual revenue and also a stable source of funding.
For the province to simply reduce what each community is expecting to receive at this late stage would mean many communities having to go to their taxpayers and asking for more.
And Wall should be reminded that there only is one taxpayer.
