Mr. Nitah, are you making a motion?

Mr. Nitah, your motion is in order. To the motion. Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I would like to speak in favour of this motion. I commend the committee for bringing this forward. I know that I was somewhat concerned when I first heard about this bill because I did not see enough of an impact on the low-income wage earners. I certainly do want to see an improvement in that for future years. It is only on the expectation that we will see that, that I can support this bill moving forward.

I think just to illustrate the reason for my concern, in looking at a chart that was prepared by an accounting firm to assess the additional benefit that we would see with the implementation of this over what the existing cost of living tax credit would be, someone with a taxable income of $40,000 for instance, would see in the area of $112 per year. Whereas someone with a taxable income of $66,000 would see an extra $177 per year.

My concern, Mr. Chairman, and the Minister has mentioned things like the highway tolls in his opening comments, not only have we seen the cost of living go up -- it may not have been significant since we brought in the cost of living tax credit, but what this government has instituted in this year -- the increased cost of landing fees at airports, what we are talking about with highway tolls and so on. The highway tolls alone will, I understand, cost the average family in the area of $150 to $200 per year, that is the expectation.

Well, my concern is if you have someone who is a single wage earner earning $50,000 per year and has a family of three or four, they are only going to see that $112, so they are only going to get back just a portion of what this government has driven up the cost in this year alone. If you have a two income family, there may be the same number of people in the family, their costs for essentials are going to be driven up, whether it is by air transport or the highway tolls, by the same amount, and yet they are not going to get a similar amount back. That is the problem I see with tying this to income.

A family of three, for instance, now with two wage earners both earning incomes greater than $66,000 per year will see an extra $354 per year in credit. That single-wage earner, with the same size family, would only get $112. That, I think, is inequitable. I am hoping the Minister will find a way to respond to this motion and come forward with something that will bring more equity to our system of tax credits. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you, Mr. Dent. To the motion. Mr. Roland.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I too will speak in favour of the motion. I think, as Mr. Dent stated, there needs to be more done for those in the lower income brackets. In fact, one-third of those who filed income tax, it has been shown they fall under the $20,000 mark. So one-third of those who filed their tax forms receive less than $20,000 income.

Mr. Chairman, with this motion I can see this proceeding, because otherwise, initially when looking at this I did speak to Minister Handley on the issue of doing a possible amendment to this bill as it came forward in the area of trying to deal with those in the low-income brackets.

As we have heard, we know someone on low income versus someone with a higher income, buying your basic goods uses all available dollars. You do not have extra dollars to buy some of the luxuries available to us. Seeing that this motion is a go and the Minister will hopefully act on it and come forward with something for the 2002 taxation year, then we can see some more substantive changes as the Minister stated to the committee in the public hearing, that he would be willing to work with Members of this Assembly to look at some changes and incorporate the tax advisory committee.

I think that is important that we do this. In fact, by doing this, we can have something we can measure by some movement by and commitment on what has been stated. I look forward to seeing something come further of this, and look forward to working with the Minister as he has committed to doing. With that, Mr. Chairman, I would support this motion, on the basis that we will have some more substantive change in further tax years. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Roland. To the motion. Question has been called. All those in favour? All those against? The motion is carried. Are there any further general comments? Detail? We are on tab 2, page 1, clause 1.

Clause 2.

Clause 3.

Bill as a whole?

Does the committee agree that Bill 2 is ready for third reading?

Bill 2 is now ready for third reading. I would like to thank the Minister and his witnesses. On the order paper, we have three Minister's statements, Minister's Statement 1-14(4), Minister's Statement 3-14(4), Minister's Statement 4-14(4). What is the wish of the committee? Mr. Dent.

Mr. Chairman, I move we report progress.

There is a motion on the floor to report progress. The motion is not debatable. All those in favour? All those against? The motion is carried. I will rise and report progress.

The House will now come back to order. Item 20, report of the committee of the whole. The honourable Member for Mackenzie Delta, Mr. Krutko.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, your committee has been considering Bill 2, An Act to Amend the Income Tax Act, and would like to report progress with one motion being adopted. Bill 2 is ready for third reading. Mr. Speaker, I move the report of the committee of the whole be concurred with.

Thank you, Mr. Krutko. Do we have a seconder for the motion? The honourable Member for Hay River South seconds the motion. The motion is in order. The motion is not debatable. All those in favour? All those opposed? Thank you. The motion is carried. Item 21, third reading of bills. The honourable Member for Weledeh, Mr. Handley.

Mr. Speaker, I seek consent to proceed with third reading of Bill 2, An Act to Amend the Income Tax Act.