With the passing of its budget, full of broken promises, callous cuts, tax giveaways for corporations and the wealthy and well connected, and a billion dollars in tax hikes for Saskatchewan families, the Sask. Party have shown they have forgotten for whom they are supposed to be working.
“For the government to expect families and businesses to pay for Sask. Party mismanagement, scandal and waste by ramming forward with this budget is absolutely disgraceful,” said NDP Finance Critic Cathy Sproule. “The Sask. Party government has no plan for the future of the province and they are failing families. The Sask. Party has chosen to make Saskatchewan families pay more and get less from their government.”
The Sask. Party voted to pass their budget without amendment, despite backlash and protests by people from across Saskatchewan who opposed the tax hikes and cuts, including to STC, libraries, education, health care, and municipalities. The PST hike and expansion is part of a billion-dollar increase in taxes, which will not only hurt families but independent businesses as well whose customers will be hit with higher taxes. As for the scrapping and sell-off of STC, 224 workers have been left without a job and people across the province left stranded. Mayors and councilors also spoke out against Sask. Party’s tens of millions of dollars of cuts and downloading onto municipalities, which means even more taxes on families, or even more cuts to services.
Sproule noted that, the passing of this budget allows the Sask. Party to throw several hundred people out of work, with many more job losses to come in a number of sectors including education and health care.
“Small business leaders, Saskatchewan mayors, and STC riders and supporters from across the province have all been clear that they stand against the Sask. Party’s attacks but the cabinet ministers have simply lost their moral compass,” Sproule said. “Their so-called plan takes over a billion dollars out of the economy and, despite callous cuts, desperate sell-offs and unheard of tax hikes, by the end of the year, the Sask. Party will have doubled the provincial debt from just five years ago. They’re making things worse, not better, and Saskatchewan families are paying the price.”
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