Nova Scotia Alternative Provincial Budget 2016 is proof
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HALIFAX – Nova Scotians know the government has very serious decisions to make when it comes to the provincial budget. More Nova Scotians want to provide meaningful input into how tax dollars are collected and how they are spent.
Stronger Together: the Nova Scotia Alternative Provincial Budget 2016 is being released during budget consultations to ensure Nova Scotians get access to better information about the consequences of government budgetary decisions, and the full range of choices possible.
“It is simply no longer tolerable for our government to make decisions as if economic prosperity, social justice, and environmental protection cannot co-exist,” says, Christine Saulnier, CCPA-Nova Scotia Director and Coordinator of the Alternative Budget.
This year marks the 15th time this multi-sectoral working group has developed a set of fiscal policy measures as part of a workable budgetary framework that takes into consideration the political and economic realities of the province.
As working group member James Sawler, Economist at Mount St. Vincent University says: “the Nova Scotia economy desperately needs a lift and fortunately, our government’s fiscal position is strong, thus allowing it to do some of the heavy lifting. The Alternative Budget shows how this can be done by reallocating some resources, making the tax system fairer, and making strategic investments within a steady downward trending debt to GDP ratio.”
Working group member, Saint Mary’s University Professor, Kate Ervine, says, “this alternative budget shows how the province can get ahead of the wave by building a carbon price into its priorities. In the APB, half of the carbon tax revenue is used to provide additional income support for lower income Nova Scotians that more than offsets the potential cost. The other half of the revenue is used to set up a Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund that will enable low-carbon investment, green job growth, and poverty reduction, allowing Nova Scotia to transition to a greener, more just society.”
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Stronger Together: Nova Scotia Alternative Provincial Budget 2016, can be downloaded free at:www.policyalternatives.ca For interviews and more information, contact Christine Saulnier, Nova Scotia Director, CCPA, 902-240-0926, [email protected]
CCPA is an independent, non-partisan research institute concerned with issues of social, economic and environmental justice
