Tories introduce ‘very straight up’ budget bill

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This article was published 10/10/2022 (764 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A bill to set the Progressive Conservative government’s marquee education property tax rebate program in law and to carry out its latest budget was introduced Tuesday.

The Budget Implementation and Tax Statues Amendment Act also extends the deadline for Efficiency Manitoba to follow through on its three-year plan and codifies capital reserve targets for Manitoba Public Insurance.

Bill 45 gives the government the legislative authority to move forward with tax measures in Budget 2022, first introduced in April.

Finance Minister Cameron Friesen said the bill, while large, is the “least encumbered BITSA in the legislature for 20 years. It’s very straight up.”

In 2020, the Tories budget implementation bill contained a 2.9 per cent rate increase for Manitoba Hydro. Last year, a proposed rate hike of 2.5 per cent, first announced by former Finance Minister Scott Fielding in July 2021, was not included in the government’s budget implementation bill as expected.

At first reading, there were no major surprises in Bill 45.

“It identifies and speaks to the very, very significant affordability measures that we’ve already talked about,” Friesen said. The bill will set the government’s commitment to reduce the education property tax by 50 per cent in 2023 in statute by amending the Income Tax Act.

In addition, mining operations will get tax break on expansions and peat harvesters will be exempt from fuel tax, if the fuel is used in off-road operations. A legislative change is also proposed to allow the provincial government to receive federal funds on behalf of Manitoba Hydro.

Friesen said the one-year extension given to Crown corporation Efficiency Manitoba to carry out its energy efficiency plan is necessary due to delays brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Nothing changes in terms of the impact of the plan or its design goals. It simply adds a year to allow them to get back and get started and resume the good work that’s been underway,” Friesen said.

NDP finance critic Mark Wasyliw said the bill and the Tories’ tax and affordability programs are highly concerning to the Opposition.

The Fort Garry MLA said the bill will give out-of-province corporations and some of the wealthiest individuals permanent tax breaks via the elimination of education property taxes.

“Unlike other laws that go through the legislature, BITSA doesn’t have committee hearings, people aren’t going to be able to have their say about it,” Wasyliw said.

danielle.dasilva@freepress.mb.ca