Tax cut, other 'help' wouldn't be timed with election: Tories

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It wasn’t in the budget, but Finance Minister Ernie Steeves is again suggesting that the government might make another move to help New Brunswickers struggling with the cost of living.

And he insists it has nothing to do with this year’s election.

When it was noted to Steeves that the affordability measures in Tuesday’s budget – like the $300 payments to households with a net income of $70,000 or less, and the two rounds of $200 food and fuel payments to low-income New Brunswickers – had all been previously announced, he suggested more help might be coming.

“There is still talk all the time of more ways we can (help). We just got this budget finished, we’re just presenting it today, but yesterday I was talking to some staff about another tax cut, or at least a way to help, all classes of New Brunswickers,” he said.

And what about the timing, and this year’s election, which must be held by late October?

“Yeah, you know what? We don’t do it because of the election, we really don’t. Premier (Blaine) Higgs has stated that all along, and so have I. We make decisions for the good of New Brunswickers.”

During a fiscal update in September, where the province announced it was on track for another big, unexpected budget surplus, Steeves said that he’d presented new “affordability measures” to cabinet. Soon after, the food and fuel benefit was announced.

“We do see New Brunswickers are hurting, you can see the high interest rates and the effects on people, inflation, going to the grocery store, absolutely,” he said at the time.

“That is why I brought forward the affordability measures. It’s good news. We just have to run it by cabinet, find out exactly what they want to do, which of the measures that I have given the options on.”

Pressed for further details, Steeves said he “likes tax cuts.”

Don’t blame us for off-base numbers: Tories

The provincial government says there’s little it can do to avoid unexpected budget surpluses, and that it’s largely up to Ottawa to provide more accurate income and sales tax data earlier in the year.

The Higgs government recorded a $400-million surplus in 2021, followed by a $769-million surplus in 2022, and a $1.03-billion surplus in 2023.  

Recently, the province blamed the feds, saying Ottawa isn’t handing over revenue data until December each year.

For the 2023-2024 fiscal year, the Tories say, that led to a $247-million budget surplus that had to be used to pay down the provincial debt because it was too late to spend on anything else.

On the eve of Tuesday’s budget, Steeves suggested the government was adjusting how it forecasts federal revenues, and how they will impact each year’s budget, before backing off and again pointing the finger at Ottawa.

“There will be some changes, slight changes, but you know what? It’s still dependent on what happens with the feds, because they control that, not us,” he said.

On Tuesday, Steeves was again asked about the “changes” he mentioned, and how the government can avoid having massive, last-minute surpluses – something that’s happened for the last several years.

“I’ve written to the finance minister, federally, and we’ve started talks – mostly at the deputy ministers’ level at this point – to try and improve the situation, try and give us more of an idea of what the revenue is going to be instead of finding out in December that we have a huge amount of revenue coming in,” he said.

Later, when asked why New Brunswickers should have any faith in the province’s revenue projections, Steeves didn’t answer directly, instead pivoting to talk about how people could “look and see what this government has done for them.”

He also admitted that the province “can’t blame it all on (Ottawa), and that’s not what I’m trying to do.”

“But I am trying to explain it,” he said.

– With files from Brunswick News archives