REGINA – There was good news and bad news for the Canadian Taxpayers’ Federation in this year’s provincial Speech from the Throne.
Haubrich pointed to two important items regarding the Throne Speech. The good news, according to Gage Haubrich, prairie director for CTF, was the continuation of the Tax Affordability Act and income tax cuts into another year.
“It makes life more affordable for Saskatchewanians, and that's a good thing to see,” said Haubrich.
But the second item for taxpayers was missing from the throne speech, said Haubrich, and that was “absolutely no plan from the government to deal with the province's rising debt load.”
“You know, we're going to be over $24 billion by the end of this year. That's more than double since Scott Moe became Premier, and the government needs to present a plan to get the budget back to balance and deal with that debt, and that didn't happen in this Throne Speech, and that's a sad thing for taxpayers. “
The debt situation was highlighted by CTF earlier this year when they took the provincial debt clock around the province.
“The provincial debt is increasing, so it's important to show people across the province how big of a problem that is, that the government needs to deal with it, and they didn't deal with it today in setting the priorities in the Throne Speech.”
