You won't see the savings from the Saskatchewan Affordability Act quite yet.
New Saskatchewan Party government legislation in December had a number of initiatives to lower what many residents would pay in provincial income taxes.
At the time, Minister of Finance Jim Reiter said that they asked the federal government to implement those changes in time for residents to see the benefit on their pay checks as of January.
"We've sent a signed a letter yesterday to send to the federal government asking them to implement those for the tax tables starting January," Reiter said on December 3rd. "We believe they can do that. There's usually a deadline to meet, and this is later because of the election, but we believe that they can do it. They did it for their own changes that they introduced last week. We're hopeful they'll do it for us as well. So hopefully by the end of January, people will be seeing what that deduction means on their paycheck. If they don't, it'll be kicked in a few months down the road, but it will still be retroactive, so it will still help people effective January 1st."
In a statement to CJME news, the federal government said it would have had to be told about the income tax changes by October 15th to have them in place by now.
The province also told CJME the changes wouldn't be in place until July 1st.
The changes include reducing income taxes by increasing the personal exemption as well as the spousal exemption, child exemption and senior supplement over the next four years. They would be increased by $500 a year for the next four years.
The Act will also index the income tax brackets and tax credits to keep up with inflation and increase the low-income tax credit by five per cent each year for the next four years.
The Home Renovation Tax Credit will also be re-created — it was first introduced after the 2020 election but ended shortly after.
The legislation will also increase a number of tax credits: The Saskatchewan First-Time Homebuyers Credit, the Disability Tax Credit and a similar supplement for children with disabilities; the Caregiver Tax Credit will also increase; the Active Families Benefit will rise to $300 per child per year; and the Graduate Retention Program’s tax credit will increase to $24,000 from $20,000.
As well, the legislation will also keep the small business tax rate at one per cent — it was scheduled to go back to two per cent in 2025.
— with files from 980 CJME’s Lisa Schick and Abby Zieverink