Wednesday January 20, 2010
| 
It's new, but is it improved : latest version of the controversial NB/Québec energy deal / Parliamentary Budget Officer Kevin Page's advice on returning to balanced budgets / Phone-in: Should governments raise new tax revenues to balance budgets ?
There's been a significant shift in the deal to sell NB Power assets to Hydro-Québec.
The changes were announced Wednesday morning by Premier Shawn Graham.
According to this version of the deal, Hydro-Québec will purchase the Point Lepreau Nuclear Generating Station only after its refurbishment is complete.
The Québec utility will also take over New Brunswick's hydro dams and two diesel units. NB Power will continue to operate the Coleson Cove and Belledune generating stations and sell the electricity back to Quebec.
New Brunswick's residential ratepayers will still get a 5-year rate freeze. Small businesses will see a roughly 15% cut in power rates. Large industrial customers will see their rate drop by 23%. Premier Shawn Graham commented on the deal's significance and NB Energy Minister Jack Keir responded to reporters' questions about why the cost of power jumps by 60% or 70% when it crosses the border from Québec to New Brunswick.
Tuesday on MN, Tom Kent explained that tax reform was long overdue. And he's been watching this for a long time. He was Principal Secretary to Prime Minister Lester Pearson and cited recommendations made by the Royal Commission on Taxation back in 1967.
At that time, it was suggested that tax reform should be guided by the principle that "a dollar of income is a dollar - regardless of where it comes from".
But in the decades since then, many billions of dollars of income have become exempt from taxation - everything from dividends and capital gains to lottery winnings and trusts.
Expanding sources of tax revenue is one means of balancing a budget, but so far this year, the only options mentioned by politicians have been cuts to spending and programmes.
But regardless of the means of returning to balanced budgets, what challenges face Ottawa right now...and in the next several years ?
Kevin Page, the Parliamentary Budget Officer sketched the landscape he sees.
Then we were joined by Fred Bergman, a Senior Policy Analyst with the Atlantic Provinces Economic Council. Our phone-in question : "Should governments raise new tax revenues to balance their budgets ?"
Click to download podcast
The changes were announced Wednesday morning by Premier Shawn Graham.
According to this version of the deal, Hydro-Québec will purchase the Point Lepreau Nuclear Generating Station only after its refurbishment is complete.
The Québec utility will also take over New Brunswick's hydro dams and two diesel units. NB Power will continue to operate the Coleson Cove and Belledune generating stations and sell the electricity back to Quebec.
New Brunswick's residential ratepayers will still get a 5-year rate freeze. Small businesses will see a roughly 15% cut in power rates. Large industrial customers will see their rate drop by 23%. Premier Shawn Graham commented on the deal's significance and NB Energy Minister Jack Keir responded to reporters' questions about why the cost of power jumps by 60% or 70% when it crosses the border from Québec to New Brunswick.
Tuesday on MN, Tom Kent explained that tax reform was long overdue. And he's been watching this for a long time. He was Principal Secretary to Prime Minister Lester Pearson and cited recommendations made by the Royal Commission on Taxation back in 1967.
At that time, it was suggested that tax reform should be guided by the principle that "a dollar of income is a dollar - regardless of where it comes from".
But in the decades since then, many billions of dollars of income have become exempt from taxation - everything from dividends and capital gains to lottery winnings and trusts.
Expanding sources of tax revenue is one means of balancing a budget, but so far this year, the only options mentioned by politicians have been cuts to spending and programmes.
But regardless of the means of returning to balanced budgets, what challenges face Ottawa right now...and in the next several years ?
Kevin Page, the Parliamentary Budget Officer sketched the landscape he sees.
Then we were joined by Fred Bergman, a Senior Policy Analyst with the Atlantic Provinces Economic Council. Our phone-in question : "Should governments raise new tax revenues to balance their budgets ?"
Click to download podcast
