The Canadian Taxpayers Federation released its Finance Minister Report Card today, ranking provincial finance ministers on spending, debt and tax relief in the latest provincial budgets.

Nova Scotia Finance Minister John Lohr received an overall grade of C+, the third highest in the country.

“Lohr is doing well compared to other provincial finance ministers, but he still has a lot of work to do for taxpayers,” said Devin Drover, CTF Atlantic Director. “It’s great to see Nova Scotia trim taxes, but it also needs to stop racking up debt and wasting hundreds of millions of dollars on debt interest payments.”

Lohr received the following grades in each category:

Debt: D

• The Nova Scotia government is increasing the debt by $2.2 billion compared to last year. The debt will reach $22.4 billion by the end of the year, working out to $20,776 per person, the sixth highest in the country.

Debt interest payments: C

• Debt interest payments will cost Nova Scotians $909 million this year, or about $842 per person, the fourth lowest in the country.

Spending Increase: C

• The government is spending about 6.4 per cent more this year compared to last year’s budget. That’s the sixth highest in the country.

Tax Relief: A

• The budget featured substantial tax relief, including a one per cent HST cut and a cut to the small business tax rate.

“The tax relief really helps families and businesses and that makes Nova Scotia more competitive,” Drover said. “But it’s unsustainable and irresponsible to keep increasing spending and debt when the province is already wasting about $2.5 million per day on debt interest payments.”

Overall ranking of provincial finance ministers:

You can find the full report card HERE.