To the editor,
Canada Day is a time when many Nova Scotia families get together to celebrate the birth of our country and the prosperity and opportunity that has been created throughout the years since Confederation.
This year, as we gathered on Canada Day, we were reminded that here in Nova Scotia, we all became a little bit poorer, as the government dug deeper into our pockets to fund its growth.
Effective July 1, the HST increased by 2 per cent. Our disposable income did not increase on that day, but the price of many of the goods and services we consume did. It does not take an economist to point out that we are all worse off as a result, as we endure the highest sales tax on the continent.
Sadly, it did not have to be this way. Over the past 10 years, most Nova Scotians have come to appreciate the need for the government to balance its budget each year. In fact, it used to be the law, until the NDP repealed it. This is the only sensible way we can move forward as a province, and until recently we have managed to stay true to this balanced budget principle.
I suspect many Nova Scotians will be shocked to know how much government spending has grown in recent years. As recently as 2005, the total budget of the Government of Nova Scotia was $6 billion. Today it is $9 billion. That is a 50 per cent increase. Our population has not grown, and inflation has been very low. So are we 50 per cent better served by our government? I think we all know the answer to that.
All political parties must take responsibility for this unsustainable growth in spending, as it occurred under minority government rule. Nonetheless, at this point, we must face it head on.
Unfortunately, the NDP have decided to deal with it by raising taxes first, and hinting at unidentified “tough choices” that may come later. Sadly, despite a majority government, the NDP have squandered their first year in power.
Interestingly, it is not as if there were no tough choices to make. For example, it is true that the government inherited a public service pension plan with a large deficit. Rather than work with the unions to mutually address this shortfall, the government borrowed over $500 million to fully fund the pension plan, without asking for a dime from its employees, many of them unionized.
To put that big number in perspective, we will all pay an extra 2 per cent HST for two full years, just to pay for the pension plan top-up. That hardly seems fair to the vast majority of Nova Scotians who are not a member of any pension plan at all.
The fact is that there is a better way. Instead of borrowing more money or raising taxes, the government should look to the expense side of its ledger first. We should put the balanced budget law back on the books, then allow expenses to grow only by the rate of inflation plus population growth.
As a matter a principle, a government should start there, and only turn to taxpayers for more money when it has exhausted its efforts to become more efficient and save money. This is what any business would do, or family.
We live in the greatest country in the world. And we live in a great province. But that greatness is defined by the choices we make. Raising taxes diminishes the prosperity of our province, and is particularly unfair to our lowest income citizens. Creating a more focused and efficient government, within a modern, dynamic, 21st century economy, is a better way for ourselves and our children.
Jamie Baillie
President and CEO of Credit Union Atlantic, and a candidate for the leadership of Nova Scotia’s Progressive Conservatives
