According to the Star Phoenix the Saskatchewan Party Government is Eying Tax Cuts
As we have written elsewhere:
Tax cuts are only a step toward limited government if they are accompanied by a decrease in spending. If they result in deficits, then they are more accurately described as a tax delay.
And…
In the last financial year of NDP government, 2006-07, the Government of Saskatchewan’s all-in expenditure figure was $9.3 billion. In 2009-10 the same figure was $12.5 billion. In other words, over three years, the Saskatchewan Party government has increased financial outlays by around 34 per cent in nominal terms. In fiscal year 2003-04, expenditures were 7.7 billion, so the increase in expenditures for the last three years of the NDP government was around 21 per cent. The Saskatchewan Party has not only adopted the spending trajectory of the previous government, they have actually accelerated it.
If the Sask. Party is serious about improving the policy environment in the province, they should think of spending first and let the tax cuts follow. Yet spending does not come into the article. It is as if spending and taxing exist in parallel universes.
Finally, from the Star Phoenix article:
[New Democrat Finance Critic Trent] Wotherspoon said if the government is contemplating tax cuts in the upcoming budget they should be aimed at individuals, not corporations.
Dislaimer: I like Trent a lot, I think he has a big future in Sask politics. That said, if not “individuals” then who exactly does he believe are the investors, customers, and employees of “corporations?” Taxes on business are the most destructive tax that still used by Canadian governments to source significant revenues. (see pp8-9 of link)
