When the Saskatchewan Business Tax Review Committee released its report in November, it was an early Christmas gift for taxpayers. If implemented, the report's recommendations would move Saskatchewan from having one of the continent's most hostile business environments to having one of its most competitive.

The committee recommends abolishing the corporate capital tax, reducing the corporate income tax rate and cutting taxes on small businesses.

The committee also recommends harmonizing the PST with the GST and reducing it to five per cent. This recommendation has generated the most discussion. To be sure, there are persuasive arguments on both sides of the debate. Harmonization would take the PST off the cost of operating a business in Saskatchewan and make collecting the tax a lot easier for business operators. It would benefit consumers by lowering the price of most goods and services but increase the cost of gasoline and restaurant meals.

Throwing yet another tax on gasoline may seem a like a non-starter. However, the recommendations must be considered as a whole. The bottom line If all the report's recommendations are implemented the cost of doing business in Saskatchewan would be reduced. Jobs and wealth will assuredly be created.

Understandably, the talk of business taxes and capital formation induces sleep for
most people. Why should I care about Saskatchewan's business tax regime

Consider this: The report correctly points out that businesses don't pay taxes, people do. High business taxes are simply passed on to people in the form of higher prices, lower wages for employees and decreased returns for investors and pensioners. That's if a corporation is able to operate profitably at all.

Businesses are leaving Saskatchewan all the time. Our young people are taking their taxpayer-funded degrees and working in places where there is economic opportunity.

The report's recommendations would make Saskatchewan competitive in the global economy. This would provide an opportunity for all of us to benefit from Saskatchewan's natural strengths: a vast and diverse supply of natural resources, great cities with low-priced housing, educated work force, decent infrastructure and an incomparable land base.

All that's needed is the right tax and regulatory environment to make running a business in Saskatchewan worthwhile.

The concern is that taxpayers have been to this movie before. The Boughen Commission on School Funding delivered a package of recommendations that would have gradually reduced the school tax burden on all taxpayers. The commission recommended offsetting the cut in property taxes by increasing the PST by a point.

The Canadian Taxpayers Federation opposed the PST hike because it felt, and still does, that the government has room to increase school funding without increasing the PST.

Indeed, the province hiked the PST but took no measurable action on school taxes. It's now abundantly clear that if the government had fully implemented the Boughen Commission's recommendations taxpayers would be a lot better off than they are now.

Our politicians must not allow the Business Tax Review Committee's report to collect dust as others have. Predictably, no set of recommendations is going to make everyone happy. Nonetheless, on balance, if the report is to be accepted or rejected, it should be embraced enthusiastically. Its recommendations are key to building a prosperous province that is no longer dependant on equalization and provides real opportunity for future generations of Saskatchewanians. It's time to turn the page and start a new chapter in the province's history. Now let's move forward!