Thank you. Finance, operations and maintenance, tax administration, not previously authorized $155,000. Mrs. Marie-Jewell.

Mr. Chairman, I would like to ask the Minister how he justifies requesting $155,000 in this supp when the Payroll Tax Act has not been passed by this House?

Thank you. Mr. Minister.

Mr. Chairman, for these kinds of initiatives, it takes some lead time to put things in place, to do work, to put together forms and information systems. Perhaps I am being bold, Mr. Chairman, but I am anticipating that the Assembly will agree with the payroll tax and see the wisdom of it. I want to be in a position to implement those taxation measures when that happens. It is the lead time that we require, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you. Mrs. Marie-Jewell.

I agree, the Minister is being very bold. Mr. Chairman, this question concerns the start-up funding for .3 of the PY for $155,000. Can the Minister indicate to us how much is actually for the PY, and what the remainder is for? Thank you.

Thank you. Mr. Minister.

Mr. Chairman, we estimate that the $155,000 and the .3 PY for start-up, are for the development of legislation, administrative procedures, computer systems, and disseminating taxpayer information packages. I do not have the breakdown of how much the .3 PY is going to cost, Mr. Chairman, but I can provide that to the committee.

Thank you. Mrs. Marie-Jewell.

This leads me to another question. Does the development of legislation for the Payroll Tax Act, not just come through the Justice Department, through the legislation division? Thank you.

Thank you. Mr. Minister.

Mr. Chairman, we have had to employ some external expertise. We will have to do some consultation with regard to this tax. As I have told the Standing Committee on Finance, this is the first jurisdiction to have a payroll tax of this nature. Although there are other jurisdictions which have payroll taxes imposed upon employers, this one is upon an employee. It is being researched, and there is some cost associated with that. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you. Are there general questions? Mr. Koe.

This may be a wise and innovative program, Mr. Minister, but you do not have the support. I am not sure where it is going to go. If the payroll tax is not approved, then what happens to this amount of money that is already being pre-approved? We are approving money before a new act is approved. I have some concerns with this.

Thank you. Mr. Minister.

There is no question, Mr. Chairman, that a lot of this money will be spent by the time the bill comes back to the House. Some of it, which will be on equipment upgrades, etc. will still be available to us, but there will be some costs. There could be a loss if the Legislative Assembly does not support the payroll tax, Mr. Chairman. The Member is correct.

Thank you. Any questions with regard to tax administration not previously authorized $155,000? Mr. Ningark.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Many times, we approve appropriations which have already been spent. I am wondering if part of the $155,000 under this program is already spent on research of the proposed payroll tax bill? Thank you.

Thank you. Mr. Minister.

No. None of the systems hardware has been purchased, Mr. Chairman. This is what is required to go from now until the end of the fiscal year. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you. Are there any other general comments? Mr. Antoine.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I was wondering if we could defer this $155,000 that has been requested for the administration of the implementation of the Payroll Tax Act until we deal with the Payroll Tax Act, perhaps during the second or third reading. I would like to defer this particular activity until we deal with the Payroll Tax Act. Thank you.

Thank you. Mr. Minister, did you have a response?

Mr. Chairman, if the committee were to defer or delete this particular item from the budget, I would not proceed by way of special warrant, not having got a clear message from this House that it did not want the money spent. What it would do, though, is put us way behind. Assuming that the Payroll Tax Act will pass this House, then we would not be in a position to start collecting that tax at that time. It will set us back quite a way, Mr. Chairman.