Taxpayers Federation looking for promises from all three N.B. political parties to cut the HST

Just over two months away from when New Brunswickers head to the polls, the Canadian Taxpayers Federation is calling for the three political parties to commit to reducing the harmonized sales tax.

The Atlantic provinces are home to the highest HST rates in the country at 15 per cent. Eight years ago, the Brian Gallant government in N.B. raised it by two per cent, to combat a growing net debt and budget deficits.

But now, with consecutive surpluses and lower debt interest payments – as well as a higher cost of living – there are calls to return to an HST rate of 13 per cent.

“Sales taxes are actually the most regressive tax possible,” said Jay Goldberg, the federation’s interim Atlantic director. “Even if you're barely making an income, you're still paying it. So this is actually one of the best taxes to cut when you're looking at helping out the most vulnerable. And so we've been calling on the government to do it, and we're calling on all parties to do it ahead of the election.”

Blaine Higgs’ progressive conservatives committed to the move last month, promising to reduce it by one per cent in the 2025 spring budget, and another per cent the following year.

The Green Party, under David Coon, acknowledged tax reform is needed, but it must be “reasonable and well planned.”

“The HST cut proposed by Blaine Higgs will carve almost a half a billion dollars out of the provincial budget without any plan to replace that revenue, so public services will suffer when health care, senior care and the education system are already in serious trouble,” he said.

Last year, the N.B. Liberals proposed the elimination of the provincial portion of the HST on resident’s power bills.

Goldberg is open to those ideas – but maintains the HST is the best tax to change.

“I think it's important for all parties to look at it or to present other very compelling tax cut alternatives to really leave money in people's pockets,” he said.

Allow fiscal reform process to complete before making changes, says Union of Municipalities of New Brunswick

As part of the local governance reform process under the Blaine Higgs government, communities were promised fiscal reform - to be completed by Jan. 1, 2025.

That timeline is unlikely says the union’s executive director, but Dan Murphy feels they’re making good progress.

Politics aside, he says that process should be completed before any major changes are made.

“It's getting that fiscal framework down. And, you know, certainly, there's many options to do it. But the HST would be one of those ways that could help with the revenue sharing agreement with municipalities to make that happen,” he said.

Like individuals, municipalities are navigating inflationary pressures too.

“We’re talking about asphalt or the cost of fuel or the cost of construction materials. Those have increased substantially,” he said. “And we're also dealing in New Brunswick with growth. We've got a lot of growth that's happened that requires infrastructure to be built to a certain level, and you know, there is a struggle that municipalities are having to meet that that growth.”

Elections N.B. has the writ scheduled to drop on Sept. 19, sparking a 32 day campaign that will see voters head to the polls Oct. 21.

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