{"id":67805,"date":"2015-12-20T19:15:56","date_gmt":"2015-12-21T00:15:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=67805"},"modified":"2015-12-20T19:15:56","modified_gmt":"2015-12-21T00:15:56","slug":"manitoba-premier-mulls-surtax-on-high-incomes-hints-at-election-issue","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2015\/12\/20\/manitoba-premier-mulls-surtax-on-high-incomes-hints-at-election-issue\/","title":{"rendered":"Manitoba premier mulls surtax on high incomes, hints at election issue"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Manitoba<\/a>
Manitoba Premier Greg Selinger
(Facebook<\/a> photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

WINNIPEG\u2014Manitoba Premier Greg Selinger is considering a surtax on high-income earners and feels he is no longer bound by a provincial law that would require a referendum on major tax changes.<\/p>\n

Selinger says no final decision has been made, but he has been “looking at” high-income tax rates that have been implemented in Alberta, Ontario and federally under Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.<\/p>\n

“I note many jurisdictions have implemented a surtax already across the country\u2014both east and west of us,” Selinger said in a year-end interview with The Canadian Press.<\/p>\n

“There’s different options that have been started to be proposed. We’re working our way through this consideration right now.”<\/p>\n

Alberta’s NDP government has replaced the province’s flat 10 per cent income tax rate with a series of higher income tax brackets for people earning more than $125,000 annually. As of next year, the top bracket\u2014for those earning more than $300,000\u2014will reach 15 percent.<\/p>\n

Manitoba’s current top tax rate is 17 percent and kicks in at $67,000.<\/p>\n

Selinger said it is too early to discuss details, such as at what level a surtax might apply and the rate. He also suggested that if a surtax is implemented, it would be at least partially offset by cuts to middle and lower income taxes.<\/p>\n

“We’re always interested in making life more affordable for middle-class and working families in Manitoba. That’s important.”<\/p>\n

Selinger ran into public anger in 2013 when he raised the provincial sales tax to eight per cent from seven. He suspended a section of the province’s balanced budget law that required a referendum on any increase to sales, income or corporate payroll taxes.<\/p>\n

The Opposition Progressive Conservatives took the issue to court and argued Selinger was not allowed to sidestep the referendum. A Court of Queen’s Bench judge rejected the Tory argument. The judge said it is unconstitutional to force a referendum on tax changes because it infringes on the powers of the legislature.<\/p>\n

With that court ruling, Selinger said he would feel no need to hold a referendum if he implements an income surtax.<\/p>\n

“The courts ruled that the way the (balanced-budget) law was written was illegal and unconstitutional … but we do believe people need to have a chance to have input into things.”<\/p>\n

Selinger said people would have their say via legislature committee hearings\u2014Manitoba is one of two provinces in which every legislature bill must undergo public hearings. He also hinted a surtax could be an issue for the provincial election set for April 19.<\/p>\n

“We would put that to the people as a proposal. They would have a chance to be aware of that, and they would have a chance to vote on it in an election.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

WINNIPEG\u2014Manitoba Premier Greg Selinger is considering a surtax on high-income earners and feels he is no longer bound by a …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":67806,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18,16],"tags":[35],"class_list":["post-67805","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news-ca","category-news","tag-original","mauthors-steve-lambert","mauthors-the-canadian-press"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67805","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=67805"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67805\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/67806"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=67805"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=67805"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=67805"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}