The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
Saskatchewan residents can look forward to $102 million in property tax relief after Ottawa promised the province a special transfer payment. Premier Lorne Calvert has set aside 30 per cent of the one-time $340 million payment toward property tax relief. "In May, we pledged that we would dedicate 30 per cent of new and ongoing compensation on equalization from Ottawa to property tax relief to shift the balance off education property tax," Calvert said in a press statement. The province will work with three organizations ? the Saskatchewan Urban Municipalities Association, Saskatchewan Association of Rural Municipalities and Saskatchewan School Board Association ? on how to pass on relief to property owners. Ottawa agreed to the $340 million payment after Saskatchewan argued that the federal system surrounding transfer payments treats the province unfairly. It's viewed that way because substantial provincial revenues from natural resources have previously been "clawed back" by the federal government, resulting in what the province saw as a disproportionate loss in equalization payments. Calvert said the payment "addresses unfair clawbacks of provincial energy revenues in the past and provides equalization funding for our province to address fiscal disparity." No Canadian province or territory relies as heavily on education property taxes as Saskatchewan.
