My first radio piece for the Frontier Centre focuses on the announcement by the Wall government that the Saskatchewan Film Tax Credit will be removed:
The uproar over the Wall government’s move to end Saskatchewan’s film tax credit cries out for a wider debate over the effectiveness of tax credits in general.
Defenders of the Saskatchewan film tax credit give abundant detail about how it has brought millions of dollars to the local economy, stimulating growth and creating jobs.
This is to be expected when you lessen the burden of government on a specific industry.
But it begs the question ‘Why should we only reduce the cost of doing business for this relatively small and very specialized group?’
Why don’t we offer more generous tax credits to the music industry, or a variety of corner shops, restaurants and other local businesses, all of whom create jobs as well?
This is the problem with tax credits – they are very arbitrary, relying on the whim of politicians who are more interested in votes, rather than a fairer, more effective tax system.
To get a provincial economy really moving, why not cut out the middle man, remove the politicians’ ability to hand out favours, and simplify the tax code all at the same time.
Could everyone receive a tax credit?
We could then just call it a tax cut.
Audio version, as read by Roger Currie, here.
