Yesterday was the budget vote. The outcome was unsurprising. It passed. The opposition voted against. The government voted in favour. It might have been news had a government member voted against the budget. Or perhaps if the opposition had voted in favour. Like many government decisions, the impact of the budget will be months and years away. The debt will grow, and for years, and perhaps generations, we'll have to find ways to pay it off. Ironically, the younger you are, the more you will pay in your lifetime to get the province out of debt.
The HST increase will hit in July as tourism season gets underway. Tourists will pay more; you and I will pay more for almost everything. Granted, there is a reduction on the HST on a few token items. I have a three-year-old so I am hardly going to complain about the removal of the HST on children's clothing, but I would gladly have given up that rebate to avoid having the HST increased on everything else.
What most concerns me about this budget, and what I believe is short-term thinking by the government, is the impact this budget has on the reputation of Nova Scotia as an expensive place to live. The impact it will have on tourism. The impact on bringing people home to live and work in Nova Scotia. The impact on immigration. The fact there is lots we can do to attract new businesses and industries but if people leave Nova Scotia and the available workforce declines, no amount of payroll subsidies will result in business wanting to locate in this province.
I'm 35. One of the reasons I got into politics is I realized one day that the majority of people who I went to school with had chosen to leave the province for work. Most have not returned. Most probably are gone for good. With this budget Nova Scotia becomes less competitive, as income and consumption taxes will be among the highest in Canada. There are so many reasons to live and work in Nova Scotia, but the financial decisions being made by the provincial NDP government are giving people who may want to move or move home to Nova Scotia reasons to stay away. It will hurt us in the long run.
