Examining Bill 71
In April 2021, Scott Fielding, Minister of Finance for the Manitoba government, introduced Bill 71. This bill was entitled The Education Property Tax Reduction Act (Property Tax and Insulation Assistance Act and Income Tax Act Amended) and was intended to initiate the elimination of the education portion of property taxes, which had been a campaign promise from fall 2019. Most of the government’s legislative agenda for the third session of the forty-second legislature was introduced in the fall of 2020, but the government did not introduce Bill 71 until April 19, 2021. The bill received royal assent on May 20, 2021, in order for the rebate cheques to be sent out before municipal taxes came due in June.
