Thank you, Mr. Chairman. To the bill, I am speaking in favour of this bill, but like the one that we just passed, Mr. Chairman, with little enthusiasm, even less than the one before. The advantage of the benefits of this bill, which would obviously be for people in the higher earning brackets are quite real and quite tangible. This is much more of an initiative that we, as a government, are taking of our own volition. Part of what we see as an available opportunity to raise some more revenue, not a lot of revenue, but it is one that the Finance Minister obviously has enough conviction that he is bringing this forward.
I want to compliment the Minister on one hand, Mr. Chairman. In his budget address and in bringing this tax initiative forward Mr. Roland has also signalled that in the very near future, we are going to see two other tax initiatives, payroll and the cost of living tax credit brought forward in May. Not that I like taxes very much, but if we are going to be doing some work, this Assembly and certainly the businesses and people in the NWT are much better served by having all of this presented in a bundle, if you will, so that all of the government's ideas and initiatives about tax can be seen more or less as a whole. We can, with some certainty, figure out what the net impact of this is going to be once it's all said and done. This, I think, is something that was a good move and I am appreciative of it because it makes this job even in something like taxes just a little bit more straightforward; not necessarily easier, but more straightforward to discuss with the public where they know what all the aspects are going to be.
Some of the aspects of this, we know, of course, what makes it unfair, we can all feel the money slipping from our pockets for the brackets that are being affected, but it will still leave this jurisdiction the fourth lowest in Canada for personal income tax. It has the impact on our social situation, as was pointed out by the people from Alternatives North, that there is a very solid body of survey and study of taxpayers' attitudes that says if what we are going to do is see our social services framework threatened, then the pain or the grief or the inconvenience caused by tax measures seem to fall below the concern that people have if they see social services being cut instead. So we would seem in this case to be on the right side of the fence if we look at our society as a whole. I would like to take that venue here that we need to do some things to protect our social infrastructure and this is one of them.
I am, to some degree, comforted by the assurances that I have so far from the Department of Finance and Minister that the provisions that are tied together in the payroll tax and the cost of living tax measures will, in effect, actually leave more money in the pockets of lower income northerners. So this is part of some of the layers that I have learned that you have to peel away when you are talking about taxes because they aren't black and white all the time. There are aspects to them that need to be comprehended. This is probably the most significant thing for me, Mr. Chairman, that says this is a bill we are supporting. It's because of the net effect. Once all these things are bundled and done, it leaves some money, not a lot, but leaves some money for the lower income wage earners.
What it takes from the higher income wage earners is also going to be offset to some extent, I understand, by the tax credit allowance. All in all, it is a workable piece of legislation.
Some Members have made some remarks about the $50 million very dramatic and very positive change in our situation. I don't see it as something, Mr. Chairman, that should affect the measures that we have already got in place, not only for this year but for coming years. I don't regard it as a gift or new money or a windfall, not at all. We are going to continue to be in a very tight situation in
subsequent years and we should stay the course. I just wanted to mention that from my point of view, as big a piggy bank as $50 million is, we still need to keep a longer view on things.
I have a couple of questions for clarification. I hope the information I have heard so far is going to be consistent with the answers. With the measures that are going to come forward through the payroll tax, on my paycheque, my biweekly paycheque, or any other northerner, am I going to be seeing less disposable income because of these tax measures in my regular pay packet? Am I going to have to wait until tax time before I see a reconciliation? Thank you, Mr. Chairman.