REGINA: The Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF) today submitted its final recommendations along with a petition of 9,100 names asking the Finance Minister to announce stronger personal tax relief in the provincial budget expected at the end of March.

"The CTF is recommending that over the next two years the government increase the basic personal credit to $12,000 (giving Saskatchewan people another $4,000 of tax-free income), and combine the three tax brackets into a single tax rate of 11%," says Saskatchewan Director Richard Truscott. Also, "The government should immediately re-index the tax system to inflation to eliminate provincial bracket creep."

On February 22, the CTF called for a 40% cut in the school portion of property taxes over the next two years, and delivered a 12,500-name petition to the Premier calling for property tax relief and reform.

According to information from the Department of Finance, the net personal tax cut for Saskatchewan people was only $12.7 million for the 2000-01 fiscal year after the federal tax cuts are factored out. Based on the promises made in last year's budget, the net provincial tax cuts are supposed to ramp up to $150 million in 2001-02.

"Better late than never," Truscott observes. "But we must do more to give relief to hard-pressed taxpayers and help the provincial economy." Truscott notes that federal bracket creep was eliminated in last year's federal budget and that Alberta has increased its basic personal credit to $12,900, reduced its income tax rate to 10%, and is now considering the complete elimination of income taxes in a few years.

"Saskatchewan has been making some limited progress on tax reduction, but we still have some of the highest overall tax burden in Canada, and we're right next door to the lowest-taxed province, so we need to do more. We have remain within spitting distance of our neighbor to the west," says Truscott.

Truscott adds, "Spending restraint now is the best way to finance tax cuts in the future. By the same token, increased overall spending today is virtually a guarantee of keeping taxes higher that they need to be in the future." In the provincial government's mid-year financial update, overall spending was approximately $860 million higher than three years ago. That number may top $1 billion in this year's budget.