Indeed I do, Mr. Chairman. Today I am introducing Bill 7, which amends the Education and Property Assessment and Taxation Act in order to restore the authority of the Minister of Finance to set education and property tax
rates in municipal taxation areas. It has been brought to our attention by the Department of Justice that the authority of the Minister of Finance to set education property tax rates in municipal taxation areas was inadvertently removed when the new Education Act and related amendments to the Property Assessment and Taxation Act were passed in 1996. Prior to the changes brought about by the 1996 Education Act, the Minister's authority to set education tax rates was established by Section 76 of the Property Assessment and Taxation Act. Under that provision, the Minister had the authority to set education mill rates where there is no board of education established in respect of the municipal taxation area. This meant that the Minister could set education mill rates in all NWT municipalities except Yellowknife, since Yellowknife was the only municipality that had its own boards of education.
In the new Education Act, boards of education became district education authorities. The Property Assessment and Taxation Act was then amended, so that all references to boards of education became district education authorities. However, the definition of district education authority in the new Education Act included other kinds of education bodies that did not have the power to receive money raised through local property taxes. Since the Minister's authority to set education tax rates in municipal taxation areas is limited to areas where there is no district education authority, his authority had effectively, though inadvertently, been removed.
The amendments I am introducing today would ensure the Minister's authority to set education mill rates is the same as it was prior to July 1996. The amendments include a provision in the Property Assessment and Taxation Act that would specifically state that the Minister may set education mill rates in municipalities where there is no education body that has been allocated the power to receive money collected from education property taxes. The amendments would be deemed to be effective as of July of 1996, by making the legislation retroactive we would be legalizing the 1997 and 1998 mill rates orders that have already been signed. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.