Cutting Taxes To Spur Economic Growth

It was announced recently that, all Saskatchewan residents who pay income tax will be paying less, and Saskatchewan people with lower incomes will receive a boost in their tax credit amounts. As announced in the 2017-18 Budget, Saskatchewan Personal Income Tax rates will drop by half a percentage point effective July 1. “Lowering Personal Income Tax rates supports our government’s growth agenda and also improves Saskatchewan’s tax competitiveness,” Finance Minister Kevin Doherty said. “Shifting tax away from income through lower personal and corporate income tax rates, and onto consumption through an expanded Provincial Sales Tax (PST), encourages productivity and keeps our province’s economy strong.” As part of the budget’s tax-reduction commitments, Saskatchewan Personal Income Tax rates will drop by another half point on July 1, 2019. Combined, these two reductions will lower Personal Income Tax rates from the current 11 per cent/13 per cent/15 per cent to 10 per cent/12 per cent/14 per cent when fully implemented. These rate reductions will save a single Saskatchewan taxpayer, with no dependents and an annual income of $50,000, about $77 per year in each of 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2020. This individual’s 2020 Saskatchewan Personal Income Tax will be $308 lower than his or her 2016 Saskatchewan Personal Income Tax as a result of these tax reductions. Similarly, a married couple with two children and an annual family income of $100,000, will save about $117 per year in each of 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2020. This family’s 2020 Saskatchewan Personal Income Tax will be $468 lower than their 2016 Saskatchewan Personal Income Tax as a result of these tax reductions. Also starting July 1, 2017, to mitigate the effect of recent PST changes, Saskatchewan Low-Income Tax Credit (SLITC) amounts are going up. The maximum basic adult, spouse and equivalent-to-spouse amounts are increasing by $100—from $246 to $346 and the dependent child amount is increasing by $40 per child, from $96 to $136, to a maximum of $272 per family. These increases will boost the maximum annual SLITC family benefit from the current $684 to $964, a 41 per cent increase. “When all of these changes are fully implemented, Saskatchewan will have the lowest top marginal tax rate in Canada,” Doherty said. “Saskatchewan will have the second-highest combined personal tax credit amounts in Canada, and the highest combined credit amounts for a family of two adults and two children.” Also in support of the government’s growth agenda, the 2017-18 Budget announced a phased one-point reduction in the Saskatchewan general Corporation Income Tax (CIT) rate from 12 per cent to 11 per cent, to be made in half-point increments effective July 1, 2017 and July 1, 2019. “At 11 per cent, Saskatchewan’s general CIT rate will be tied with British Columbia for the lowest in Canada, and will be one percentage point lower than Alberta’s rate,” Doherty said. In conjunction with this change, the Manufacturing and Processing (M&P) Profi ts Tax Reduction is being maintained, meaning that Saskatchewan’s effective CIT rate on eligible M&P income can be as low as nine per cent—the lowest tax rate on manufacturing and processing in the country.