NB Gov thinks raising taxes will stop mass exodus...

The Liberal Government of New Brunswick announced their $6.6-billion budget Monday, projecting a surplus of $37 million for 2007-08 (A CBC article called this a "small surplus". Is it? I have no idea what provincial-sized bank-accounts should look like, but it doesn't seem small).

The point of the budget is: New Brunswick is poor and spending more money than it takes in. This is due to fledgling natural resources/economy, and a mass exodus of workers and talent.

Premier Shawn Graham revealed that personal taxes and corporate income taxes (CIT) will be raised. Also, the New Brunswick Liquor Corp, always a big revenue generator for the government, has been ordered to boost its net income by $13 million. You hear that? The government will be stripping an extra percentage off your hourly $7.50, AND will be asking you to chip in some more money when you buy beer. You WILL pay for every last drop of pavement on the highway.

Effective Jan. 1, 2007, the province's personal income tax rates will be increased in order to generate an additional $50 million in revenue annually. The new rates will be 10.12 per cent on the first income bracket, 15.48 per cent on the second, 16.80 per cent on the third and 17.95 per cent on the fourth bracket.

For a one-earner family of two with taxable income of $40,000, this represents an increase of $42 in New Brunswick personal income taxes for 2007 compared to 2006.

2003-2006 rates were : 9.68% on first $33,450; 14.82% on $33,450 to $66,902; 16.52% on $66,902 to $108,768; 17.84% over $108,768.

Let's be clear: I'm NOT against taxes. I am for them. I live in privatized Alberta, where, for example, a public library card costs $12 (plus all your future fines). The community should take care of everyone through a pooling of resources. However, to ask an already impoverished community to pay even more out of their half-empty pockets doesn't seem fair. And to target them through leisure purchases!? There must be some other way to balance the budget. How much federal money do we get? There must be over-spending in an area related to special events/travel expenses and other frivolities. How much do we spend on landscaping provincial buildings?

Further, I don't see how raising taxes in a province with so little income and work is going to attract people.

A recent study by the Atlantic Institute of Market Studies reported that Alberta alone had drawn nearly 13,000 Atlantic Canadians away in the year ending July 1, 2006. Mr. Graham has promised to reverse the exodus and has set a target of attracting 5,000 immigrants a year by 2015.
Yeah, good luck with that.