Tax changes likely in provincial budget

Saskatchewan could see changes to taxes in the provincial budget, which is to be released Wednesday afternoon. The changes were hinted at in a Facebook post made by Premier Brad Wall Monday morning.

In the post, Wall talked about how resource revenues, which the province relied on for around 20 per cent of overall revenues in recent years, have declined sharply. Before the downturn, the government used the resources for infrastructure, paying down debt, and lowering taxes, as well as growth incentives.

With the decline of resource revenue by $1.3 billion in the past three years, Wall said this depleted the rainy day fund, which the government has to take responsibility for, while taking action to rebalance everything based on the lower revenues.

Wall hinted at moving away from a reliance on resource revenues, while changing how some taxation works in the province. This would come in the form of an increase in some consumption taxes, while reducing income taxes. He stated the government will have the budget balanced within three years.

There was no hint as to what would be the taxes impacted by the budget. The final word will come Wednesday afternoon, when the budget is released.