The federal government has delivered a balanced budget. Finance Minister Joe Oliver has come up with a $1.4 billion dollar surplus, which is down from the $6.4 billion projected a year ago.
In order to do that, Oliver has drained $2 billion out of the budget’s $3 billion dollar rainy day reserve, normally meant for things like natural disasters. However, Peace River MP Chris Warkentin says it was their number one priority to get back in the black.
“This is definitely a rainy day when you have such a significant amount of revenue that is reduced as a result of these very fast reducing values of commodities such as oil. I think it’s important for Canadians to recognize that this is a balanced budget at a very unprecedented time.”
Some of the highlights of the budget include allowing seniors aged 71 to leave more money in Registered Retirement Income Funds and an increase to the National Defence’s budget by $11.8 billion over 10 years.
Warkentin says Peace Country residents can stand to benefit from several tax changes like an increased Tax Free Savings Account limit and income splitting for families, as well as a few surprises.
“This has been something that I have been a strong component of for years, and now to know that we will have the lowest small business taxes in history – at least certainly in any of our lifetimes, to see that we’ll be bringing those taxes down to 9 per cent by 2019 is good news.”
He adds that local farmers will appreciate the increase in the capital gains exemption to one million dollars.
Alberta is reportedly also getting the largest transfer in history at $5.5 billion dollars.