PC Leadership candidate Tim Houston thinks he has an idea that could help encourage young people to choose to live and work in Nova Scotia rather than looking for work out west.
Houston proposal is to eliminate individual Nova Scotia income tax for anyone 25 and under on their first $50,000 of earned income.
The idea was first shared during Houston’s remarks at the Progressive Conservative Party of Nova Scotia’s Annual General Meeting in February.
"This is an investment in building the human infrastructure needed to move the province into the future. We have the jobs, we need to match them to the right people,” says Houston, MLA for Pictou East. “It’s time to end the norm of youth leaving our province and show the country that Nova Scotia is the place to build a life.”
Houston notes the majority of young people are not dependent on Nova Scotia’s health care system. They also don’t typically have children in the P-12 system. Because of those factors he says they're not using many government services that cost taxpayers money.
Already, he’s received some support for the idea.
“We want to stay, we want to take advantage of opportunities, but it needs to be financially feasible for us to do that,” says Brianna Titus, past president of the Nova Scotia Young PCs. “Giving us some breathing room to catch up, save some money, start to pay off our loans will play a huge role in deciding to stay or head west."
He believes the tax elimination for this age group will also help build an attractive environment for outside organizations to expand their services into Nova Scotia and support innovative young Nova Scotians in their paths as entrepreneurs.
Gordon Stirrett, principal of Gordon Stirrett Wealth Management, stated in a release from Houston’s leadership campaign, that he believes Houston’s idea is the push Nova Scotia needs, and that government is not taking full advantage of the favourable environment the province has available for start-ups to thrive.
“It’s about time we have the attitude in Nova Scotia that we shouldn’t be second to anyone in the IT and start-up sectors,” said Stirrett. “It’s going to take government focus and bold ideas to really help kick-start this in a big way. We have the opportunity to be a national leader in this area – this is the type of innovative, aggressive initiative that can get us there.”
