Quebecers will get modest income-tax cuts in 2005-06 Finance Minister Michel Audet said Thursday as he tabled the provincial budget.

The cuts, which will take effect Jan. 1, 2006, will help bring Quebecers’ taxation levels closer to the Canadian average.

Audet said he will balance the budget on total spending of $55.4 billion.

The centrepiece of the tax measures is an additional $500 deduction for more than three million Quebecers.

Total tax relief is $81 million for three months of the 2005-06 fiscal year and $372 million over a full year.

“Our government pledged to attain the Canadian average,” Audet said in his budget speech. “Midway into our mandate, I am pleased to say we are halfway there.”

However, figures provided by the Finance Department show Quebecers will still pay $3.8 billion more in income tax than Albertans in 2006, $3.4 billion more than Ontarians and $3 billion more than British Columbians.

The tax relief announced Thursday will mean an extra $200 in disposable income over the three months between next January and March for a Quebec couple with two children and two incomes totalling $75,000.

A single parent with one child and an income of $25,000 will get an additional $80 over the same period, he added.

The budget also includes increased spending on health and education.

As well, there are tax cuts for business. The budget cuts by more than 50 per cent the tax on capital for all businesses, and lowers the tax rate to 8.5 per cent for the first $400,000 of the taxable income of small-and medium-sized businesses.