Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, the idea of lowering income tax rates would be troubling to some, when we consider our fiscal situation. Although we have had some good fortune during this term to date, the debt wall is still looming out there. It has been some time since I have talked about that issue, but it still looms out there. From time to time, we are given a reminder about the possibilities.
At the same time, one of the things we are made very aware of, and the thing that has benefited the Northwest Territories to date, is that we have had large corporate tax filings in the Northwest Territories. If it was not for those, we would definitely be looking at curtailing expenditures of government in a very serious way.
During the business planning sessions when we were provided with this information, committee members asked if the department would in fact look at lowering corporate tax rates. Initially, the department said no, that it was not something that would be considered. It is good to see that we are moving in this direction. We do have to stay competitive, especially if we are going to try to get those one-time filers in the Northwest Territories. Keeping the ones who have just started to file here is something that would make good sense, in light of the impact that they have had in the Northwest Territories when it comes to filing the taxes.
In any other jurisdictions, the amount that gets filed would probably mean very little. When you look at the other provinces, it is not a large amount on their side of the books. However, here in the Northwest Territories, $60 million net to us is a huge impact. It has kept us able to spend and improve on programs and services to a certain degree. In that sense, I support this move and I hope it works out. I know the Minister had cautioned committee members when we first asked about the fact of potentially losing some revenue, but hopefully it will work out and we will still find corporate tax filers that will file in the Northwest Territories and bring benefit to us.
There are so many other issues, as we have heard today, around revenue and how it is counted with the federal government. One question for the Minister is, with our lowering our corporate taxes, I know the federal government, in formula financing discussions, looks at our tax effort. Lately, in fact, it has been a benefit to us because other jurisdictions have lowered theirs and we were starting to go on the high side. Would this just bring us back to the levels we were at previously when it comes to tax effort in the Northwest Territories? Thank you.