Premier Brad Wall likely not going ahead with corporate tax rate decrease

Premier Brad Wall is preparing for his final sitting of the Legislative Assembly, which begins Wednesday with the Throne Speech. The government will outline its priorities for the coming weeks, one of which is likely to be the cancellation of a one per cent reduction in the corporate income tax rate.

Wall said that there isn’t the same need for the reduction because British Columbia is going to be raising their corporate interest rate.

“For us to continue to be the most competitive, have the lowest or tied for the lowest corporate income tax rate, means we don’t have to reduce our corporate income tax rate,” Wall said.
Currently, the corporate income tax rate in Saskatchewan is 11.5 per cent. Wall said more details will be discussed in the upcoming Throne Speech.

In place of a corporate income tax decrease, Wall said his government is examining a small business tax change.

“You pay a very low rate as a small business in terms of that business income, until you get to I think it’s $500,000, and then you pay the higher corporate rate. Can we look at changing that?” Wall said.

The small business tax threshold in Saskatchewan is $500,000 before the owner moves to a higher tax bracket. The small business tax rate is two per cent.

Opposition leader Nicole Sarauer said that this corporate tax cut rollback is reflective of people’s anger over the most recent budget.

“We’re happy to see the government is rolling back on some of these initiatives, but let’s be clear, the government would like to be able to implement all of the that they wanted to make and announced in the budget,” Sarauer said.

“The people of Saskatchewan are speaking up loud and clear that they’re not having any of it.”

Wall said the government will be introducing 40 pieces of legislation, which will be further outlined in the Throne Speech. He did hint that they will include election promises that have yet to be realized, such as increased funding for children with autism.

Wall’s impending retirement

The beginning of the upcoming session also marks the start in the final chapter of Wall’s career in provincial politics. He will be stepping down as premier and MLA once a new Saskatchewan Party leader is chosen in January.

He’s been thinking a lot about his final day in the assembly on December 6.

“That’ll be a hard day. It’ll be a difficult day because it’s a place where it’s truly been an honour to serve in there,” he said.

Once his career as premier draws to a close, Wall said the thing he’ll miss the most is representing Saskatchewan on the national stage.

“That is just an honour I’d hoped that I would have from a fairly young age, because I’ve been interested in politics, but never really thought I would,” he said.

“And I’ve been able to do that, by the way, in an amazing time in the life of Saskatchewan. We really have had a decade of growth.”