Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have a return to an oral question asked by Mr. Roland on May 3rd, with respect to the responsibility for tax increases for education.
Mr. Speaker, as I mentioned last week in the House, the Financial Management Board approved a 10 per cent increase in education taxes in all tax-based municipalities except Yellowknife. In addition, the board approved an increase in general property and education tax rates of 10 per cent in the general taxation area, which consists of those areas outside tax-based municipalities.
GNWT property tax rates are set through an establishment order. Each year, they are reviewed by the Department of Finance and recommendations are made to the Minister of Finance and to the Financial Management Board. This year, the Financial Management Board decided to increase GNWT property taxes because they have not kept pace with inflation over the last 30 years. In fact, even after this change, mill rates will have only increased by 33 per cent since 1967 when property rates were instituted. During the same period, the Canadian consumer price index increased by 390 per cent.
Letters notifying tax-based municipalities of the new education mill rates will be sent out shortly. It is projected that the combination of the general property tax and education tax increases will raise $575,000 in 1996-97. The additional revenues are included in the main estimates. However, property tax revenues are projected to be only $79,000 higher than in 1995-96, because 1995-96 revenues were abnormally high. This was as a result of the effort by our government which resulted in the federal government paying about $550,000 in grants-in-lieu of taxes that were owed from previous years. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.