Don't create, raise taxes, N.W.T. roundtable delegates tell government
As the Northwest Territories government looks for ways to put more money into its coffers, the people it's consulting this week say they want ways that offer the least pain to northerners' pocketbooks.
Territorial finance officials began a two-day roundtable session in Yellowknife Tuesday, bringing about 20 delegates from across the N.W.T. together to brainstorm ideas for raising an additional $40 million over the next two years.
Premier Floyd Roland has said the government needs about $10 million more in revenue this budget year and $30 million more the following year to stay on solid financial footing.
Among the ideas the government has floated is introduction of a general sales tax — an idea that didn't go over well with some delegates Tuesday.
"In comparison to Yellowknife or even down south, the costs of living in our region is very, very high," said Bob Simpson, the chief self-government negotiator for the Inuvialuit in the Beaufort Delta region.
"So any increases in that, the costs of goods and services, is really difficult for people to be able to manage."
Simpson said people in his region, which includes the communities of Inuvik, Aklavik and Tuktoyaktuk, have already been hit hard by rising oil prices.
Finance Minister Michael Miltenberger said he doesn't expect any of the roundtable delegates to support a sales tax, but he hopes they'll come up with more creative ideas.
One cash source the government wants to consider tapping is the "fly in, fly out" crowd — people who work in the N.W.T., such as at its diamond mines, but live in Southern Canada.
"It's tens of millions of dollars a year, and there's hundreds of people that, by our estimation, fly in and fly out," Miltenberger said Tuesday.
"Income tax, all the wages, all of the value that you have by people living in the North, the houses — all that money flies to wherever these folks are from."
Miltenberger said employment agreements signed with the territory's mines give the government the authority to compel mines to reach their local hiring targets.
But Yellowknife Mayor Gord Van Tighem said the territorial government should steer clear of tax increases if it wants to encourage southern-based workers to live in the North.
"The fly-over isn't all outside workers … and that's one of the things that needs to be looked at, is how do you repatriate them?" Van Tighem said.
"If they've gone to a place that has a lower cost of living, you don't get them back by increasing the cost of living."
Van Tighem said a lack of housing in northern communities has pushed workers out of the N.W.T.
Members of the public are invited to submit feedback on the government's discussion papers on revenue options. They have until Oct. 15 to file their comments.