Saskatchewan Party Dropping the Ball on Flat Tax

NORTH BATTLEFORD - Saskatchewan Liberal Leader Ryan Bater described the latest government decision to abandon the recent flat tax proposal as short sighted and lacking vision.

“A flat tax would be a huge step to building a truly modern 21st century economy and providing for future growth,” said Bater. “Instead, the Saskatchewan Party has demonstrated their lack of political courage by dumping the flat tax idea. This was an opportunity for the government to show real leadership and they blew it.”

Bater’s criticism comes in the wake of the government’s decision to discard a flat tax recommendation from Enterprise Saskatchewan. The economic development agency recommended in June that the government move toward a 10% flat tax on personal and business income over the next three years in order to avoid tax leakage to Alberta.

“As a former economic developer I was on the front lines of business and investment attraction in rural Saskatchewan,” said Bater. “I saw many times how our tax regime compared to Alberta was a deal breaker. The spinoff effects of a flat tax have the potential to spur our provincial economy by creating a competitive business environment.”

“Even the provincial Auditor has come out warning about the dangers of this Saskatchewan Party government being too reliant upon unstable resource revenues. Saskatchewan’s economic prosperity and options for the future should be based on the hard work of our entrepreneurs and our ability to attract new business ventures, not the whims of Chinese potash brokers and Middle Eastern oil cartels.”

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