The Canadian Taxpayers Federation is asking the Houston government to put an end to inflation-based tax hikes.

“Being an accountant by trade, we’re sure Premier Tim Houston understands how bracket creep works, and how it’s costing Nova Scotians dearly every year,” said CTF Interim Atlantic Director Renaud Brossard. “With inflation at its highest point in decades, the time has come for him to end inflation-based tax hikes in Nova Scotia.”

Tax brackets have remained at the same level thresholds since 2000 in Nova Scotia. Meanwhile, the purchasing power of a dollar has gone down by 45 per cent.

By failing to index tax brackets to inflation, the government of Nova Scotia has been pushing people into higher tax brackets and paying higher tax rates, even if they don’t have more money in real terms. This is referred to as bracket creep.

Bracket creep will represent a $75 tax hike for a Nova Scotian making $50,000 this year.

The CTF is also asking Houston to bring government employee compensation down to private sector levels.

“Bureaucrats should not get paid a premium over their private-sector peers simply because they happen to work for the government,” said Brossard. “The province needs to bring these compensation packages back to a level comparable to that of the average Nova Scotian.”

Provincial government employees in Nova Scotia get a 17.4 per cent wage premium over the rest of the province’s labour market, when adjusting for education. This costs Nova Scotian taxpayers $667 million per year.

Taxpayers are also asking the government to eliminate the Yarmouth-Maine ferry subsidy.

“Nova Scotians have sunk over $80 million to keep the ferry afloat,” said Brossard. “We’re calling on the government to stop the flow of taxpayers’ funds into the Yarmouth ferry’s operations and prevent it from further drowning taxpayers in debt.”

The Yarmouth-Maine ferry subsidy cost taxpayers $15.3 million in the last year, despite the fact the ferry has not made a single crossing.

The CTF’s entire prebudget submission is available at link: https://www.taxpayer.com/media/NS%20Prebudget%202022%20-%20Renewed%20prosperity%20for%20Nova%20Scotia.pdf