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Wednesday, April 4, 2012 News worth sharing.
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“I love the smell of
testosterone in the morning.”
Inhale…
Still in hole, but some tax relief Budget. Premier says he’s not expecting to call an election in 2012 JENNIFER TAPLIN
jennifer.taplin@metronews.ca
The 2012 budget promises some small tax relief — and a deficit of $211.2 million. Finance Minister Graham Steele announced three new tax-credit increases and tax reductions for low-income seniors. “These are reductions that will be in the hundreds or several hundreds for Nova Scotia families and I don’t think any of them would say this is not important,” Steele told reporters on Tuesday. For the 14,000 people in the province with no spouse or a common-law partner and who have kids under 18, an increase in the dependent credit will save them about $100. A similar increase to the spousal credit will save 44,000 Nova Scotians over $100, and an increase in disability amount will save about $75 for 20,000 people. Seniors who receive the Guaranteed Income Supplement will get a refund, which means an average $450 for 17,000 seniors. Steele said this is the last year of getting “back to balance” before surplus budgets
Open lines
“We have established good lines of communication with the federal government, so, at least at this point, it’s not an affordable expense.” Premier Darrell Dexter on closing the provincial office in Ottawa to save $500,000 a year
will allow for reductions in the Harmonized Sales Tax — one per cent in 2014, and by another one per cent in 2015. The finance department is predicting a $15.5-million surplus next year, $19.7 million in 2014-15, and $23.1 million in 2015-16. Without the cuts to HST, there would have been a $180-million surplus in 2014-15 and $360 million in 2015-16. Premier Darrell Dexter said it made more sense to lower the HST then to reduce the debt. The net debt is estimated at $13.3 billion as of March 31 and the province’s debt to GDP ratio stands at 35.2 per cent. “It was kind of an unspoken deal with (citizens) that they were going to make those sacrifices and they were going to help pay down the structural deficit, and when that was complete, we would return that two per cent increase,” Dexter said. more coverage, page 3.
Finance Minister Graham Steele smiles after a wisecrack from a reporter before a press conference at Province House on Tuesday. Steele tabled the 2012-13 provincial budget, which projects a deficit of $211.2 million. ryan taplin/metro
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