REGINA, SK: The Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF) is disappointed with the Saskatchewan government’s decision to stick taxpayers with most of the bill for the provincial deficit in the 2017 budget.

“The Saskatchewan government is trying to fix its deficit problem by forcing families and businesses to pay more taxes,” said Todd MacKay, Prairie Director for the CTF. “The government is making some tough decisions to trim spending, but taxpayers are getting hit hard with the brunt of this bad news budget.”

The Saskatchewan budget projects an operational deficit of $685 million and forecasts another deficit next year.

The Provincial Sales Tax is going up by 1% and numerous other taxes are going up as well. While personal and business income taxes are each being trimmed by 0.5%, the total tax burden for Saskatchewanians will go up by $908 million.

The government is committed to reducing compensation costs for government employees by 3.5%, for a total savings of $250 million, but spending in this year’s budget is rising by 0.6% when compared to last year’s budget.

Interest on Saskatchewan’s existing debt will cost $381 million – that’s $84 million more than last year.

“Saskatchewanians have been trimming their family budgets for a few years already and it’s time for the provincial government to do the same,” said MacKay. “It’s unfair to force Saskatchewan families to pay more when the government still isn’t significantly reducing its own spending.”

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For more information, contact:
Todd MacKay, Prairie Director - Canadian Taxpayers Federation
Cell: 306-582-7717  Email: [email protected]