Sask. NDP calls on government to get rid of PST on construction labour

With the next sitting of the Legislature set to kick off Monday, Saskatchewan’s NDP is already making its agenda known to the public.

Next week, the NDP plans to try to persuade the Saskatchewan Party to remove the PST that has been stapled on construction labour since 2017.

NDP Leader Carla Beck said Thursday the tax that’s currently in place makes construction projects more expensive and fails to make the province competitive.

“One of the things that we hear frequently is that this tax on construction labour delays projects, keeps them from happening, and causes municipalities who have such a disproportionate amount of infrastructure to raise property taxes,” Beck told reporters at the Legislative Building.

“We see the need for investment into communities in our province and this is not competitive. It has slowed growth, it has stopped growth (and) delayed projects in many instances. Again, this is a consistent message we’ve heard from municipal leaders that this tax is leaving us with projects that are too expensive and it’s making us not competitive. It needs to be removed.”

The tax has been in place since 2017 and the NDP says it has been working to remove it since the day the tax was implemented.

Beck feels the province is missing out on a lot of investment because of the tax.

“This is a province that should be booming when you look at our natural resources. Those capital dollars are crucial and they will go elsewhere if we’re not competitive,” Beck explained. “This is one of the ways we’re not competitive and we’re downloading cost on to municipalities and in turn onto property taxpayers across the province.”

NDP Highways and Infrastructure Critic Trent Wotherspoon said inflation is also playing a major role in the tax being an extra burden on municipalities.

“Inflation on the cost of materials (and) the cost of financing has all driven up added challenges as well. I think it emphasizes the reason to finally do the right thing and scrap this tax that never should’ve been imposed in the first place,” Wotherspoon said.

Wotherspoon feels the NDP has a solution to offset the tax if it was removed.

“What we’re talking about is bringing our economy back to life. While you may see a reduction on the actual amount collected on the construction labour because we’ll be getting rid of that tax, you’ll see more income taxes paid from more people working and more paycheques,” he said.

“You’ll see more activity in consumption tax from people supporting local businesses. You’re going to see fewer people moving away and more people moving here paying property taxes and contributing to the economy. And then of course, with projects moving forward and support for local businesses, you’re going to see the cascading effect as well as the revenues and taxes that flow when businesses in Saskatchewan are doing well.”

980 CJME has reached out to the Saskatchewan Party for comment on the NDP’s proposal, but hadn’t heard back by the time of publication.