Surplus shows HST hike wasn’t needed: critics

The province has posted a multi-million dollar surplus for the 2010-11 fiscal year – but the opposition still isn’t happy.

Critics say the black ink proves taxes are too high in Nova Scotia.

The Department of Finance revealed a surplus of $569.1 million for the past fiscal year on Thursday, up more than $100 million from projections in the spring budget.

Finance officials say an economy that performed better than expected and controlled spending account for
the boost.

However, Liberal finance critic Michel Samson says there’s no way the two per cent increase in the HST last year didn’t help the province’s finances.

“The increase of two per cent on the HST has had a dramatic effect on the finances of Nova Scotia,” he said. “It begs the question, why did we really need a two per cent increase in the first place?”

Samson says it’s good news to hear the province is posting a surplus, but says doing it after a tax hike is hurting the government’s credibility.

“Nova Scotians are left scratching their heads when they were told an HST increase was absolutely necessary in order for Nova Scotians to be able to go ‘back to balance,’ as the minister of finance would indicate,” he said. “We’re not only back to balance now, we’ve got surpluses and that’s being done in large part by taking more money out of the pockets of Nova Scotians.”

Finance Minister Graham Steele says the figures show that the NDP government is rebuilding the province’s finances and says the tax hike has nothing to do with the surplus.

But Tory economic development critic Eddie Orrell says the figures suggest it’s time for the province to lower the HST.

“Half a billion dollars in more taxes is not something we consider sound financial management,” he said. “Picking the pockets of Nova Scotia with a two per cent increase in the sales tax is not good financial management as far as we’re concerned.”

Samson and Orrell say they’d like to see the surplus applied to the province’s $12.8 billion debt, but say they don’t believe that will happen.

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