The second phase of the Saskatchewan government’s plan to reduce education tax on property will go ahead next year.
The reduction was postponed a year because of the collapse in the potash market, but improving resource revenue means the government can fulfill its promise to reduce the reliance on property tax to fund schools, it said in its Oct. 27 throne speech.
Education tax reduction was a key part of the Saskatchewan Party’s 2007 election campaign.
“The next phase of that is going to be coming for Saskatchewan property owners in the budget,” premier Brad Wall said last week.
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The long-range goal would be to completely eliminate the tax, he added.
“It’s a capital tax and I think in the long term, if we want to be competitive we should think about not funding education by taxing capital.”
The average tax bill on agricultural land will drop by 80 percent when the second cut is implemented, compared to an average cut of 20 percent for all property classes.
Saskatchewan Association of Rural Municipalities president David Marit said rural taxpayers will be happy to “finally put it to bed.”
He was also pleased the government will fulfill another commitment to turn over one percent of provincial sales tax revenue to municipalities.
“That’s $5 to $6 million more per year for RMs,” he said.
The throne speech also contained a 10-year commitment to rehabilitate the province’s Lake Diefenbaker irrigation infrastructure but nothing else in terms of agricultural funding initiatives.
NDP leader and agriculture critic Dwain Lingenfelter said he was surprised at the self-congratulation over the money that crop insurance is paying out this year.
“Crop insurance alone has already paid out more than one quarter of a billion dollars to producers this year, with many more post harvest claims soon to be processed,” said the speech, read by lt. gov. Gordon Barnhart.
“It’s estimated that this year’s agriculture budget could be the largest in Saskatchewan history.”
Lingenfelter said farmers have told him they haven’t received anything yet.
Agriculture minister Bob Bjornerud said more than $500 million has been paid when including the Excess Moisture Program.
He also said crop insurance is not in a deficit position at this point, which Lingenfelter recently suggested was the case.
Bjornerud said two good crops and low payouts in 2008 and 2009 have kept the program in the black.
“We’re sitting very stable there and it looks like we won’t be going into a deficit position at all with crop insurance,” he said.
Meanwhile, changes to the Animal Protection Act will be among the first bills to be introduced in the fall session. It will increase fines for those who mistreat farm animals.
