The Canadian Taxpayers Federation is criticizing the provincial government for increasing Nova Scotians’ tax bills through bracket creep and failing to produce a plan to balance the budget.

“This budget shows Premier Tim Houston wants to run a credit card government with big deficits for years to come,” said Franco Terrazzano, Federal Director of the CTF. “Bigger deficits mean more debt, more money wasted on interest charges and less room to provide much needed tax relief.”

The deficit will be $279 million this year. There is no plan to balance the budget. In fact, the government plans to more than double the deficit by 2026. 

The debt is expected to reach $19.5 billion by the end of 2023. Interest charges on the debt will cost taxpayers $767 million in 2023. 

Budget 2023 did not end the bracket creep tax hike. Bracket creep happens when governments don’t move tax brackets with inflation and inflation can automatically bump taxpayers into a higher tax bracket even though they can’t actually afford to buy more.

This year, bracket creep will cost a Nova Scotia taxpayer up to $653, depending on income. Only Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island fail to index any of their tax brackets to inflation.

Inflation and bracket creep are increasing the government’s income tax revenue by 13.7 per cent compared to last year’s budget estimates.

“Houston is using inflation to fatten his coffers while taxpayers get hammered by the bracket creep tax hike,” said Terrazzano. “Inflation means Nova Scotians are paying more for groceries, more for gasoline and higher taxes because of Houston’s bracket creep. 

“Budget 2023 was a massive missed opportunity for Houston to do the right thing and end the sneaky backdoor income tax hike known as bracket creep.”