PICTOU, NS: The Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF) says its new 1-to-2-to-3 tax reduction plan is an affordable, flexible and accountable way for the provincial government to bring in real tax relief for working Nova Scotians.

The Federation’s proposal is the centre-piece of a lunch speech by Kevin Lacey, Atlantic Director of the CTF, to the Pictou County Chamber of Commerce today at Pictou Lodge and was presented to the Nova Scotia’s tax review last week.

The plan works like this: $1 of tax relief for every $2 of new government revenue, legislated over a period of 3 years.

“If we are serious about growing our economy, creating good paying jobs and bringing our people home, then we need to lower our tax burden on working families,” said Lacey.

The CTF’s 1-to-2-to-3 proposal is affordable: Tax reductions will only be committed to if there is money through revenue growth to support it.

It is flexible: Government can reduce whichever tax it believes would have the biggest benefit to taxpayers and the economy. They could reduce income taxes, sales taxes, business taxes, small business taxes, gas taxes, hike the personal exemption, etc.

“It’s a simple and easy to understand plan that will show taxpayers that the government is willing to and is capable of dealing with the problems of high taxes in Nova Scotia,” continued Lacey. “It also signals to other interests who want to see the government spend more, that $1 out of every $2 of new revenue is already spoken for and cannot be used for increases in government spending.”

“Nova Scotia’s high taxes were not created overnight, and we’ll only lower them through a long-term plan that is dedicated to ensure that the taxes Nova Scotians pay are fair,” concluded Lacey.

You can find the entire brief presented to the Nova Scotia tax and regulatory review HERE