Midland MLA Lauren Stone is calling out the provincial government’s decisions during the recent legislative session, saying affordability challenges are being made worse by new tax policies.
Stone reflects on the session and says the NDP’s approach has been reactive, not planned.
Short-sighted decisions and rising costs
Stone says Manitobans are already feeling the effects of the rising cost of living, and new government policy is adding to the pressure. She points to the elimination of the education property tax rebate as a major concern.
“What we saw this year at a time when Manitobans are living through a cost of living crisis and affordability challenges, we had an NDP government actually hike taxes on Manitobans,” she notes. “We are hearing from Manitobans across the entire province of this unprecedented challenge that has now been created as a result of the NDP government, not only eliminating that previous education property tax rebate, but also not sustainably funding education.”
She says the result has been historic double-digit increases to property tax bills for many residents.
Opposition bill aimed at trade mobility
Stone also points to a bill she introduced earlier this spring, Bill 227, the Free Trade and Labour Mobility Within Canada Act, which aimed to lower interprovincial trade barriers.
“We then introduced reciprocal legislation back in April,” she adds. “Unfortunately, the NDP did vote it down and then it wasn’t until the last week of session where they brought forward their own bill, rushed it through within a few days.”
While Stone says her party supported the NDP’s version, she calls it a “watered down” version that still contains barriers other provinces are working to remove.
Bracket creep quietly increases income taxes
Stone also raises concerns about a change to Manitoba’s income tax indexing, saying the return of “bracket creep” has flown under the radar.
“What we also saw in this year’s budget was the NDP brought back bracket creep, which is essentially they stopped indexing income taxes to inflation,” she continues. “Any sort of savings that Manitobans will feel from wage increases will not be felt as a result of this decision.”
Stone says the change will bring in $82 million for the province and result in higher taxes for individuals pushed into new tax brackets by inflation or modest raises.
She calls the move a “sneaky” tax hike and says Manitobans should be aware of the long-term impacts.
Sign up to get the latest local news headlines delivered directly to your inbox every afternoon.
Send your news tips, story ideas, pictures, and videos to news@portageonline.com.
PortageOnline encourages you to get your news directly from your trusted source by bookmarking this page and downloading the PortageOnline app.