The Nova Scotia Progressive Conservative government’s first budget includes tax measures aimed at about 27,000 non-resident property owners.<\/p>\n

Two measures introduced in Tuesday’s budget are projected to raise $81 million to help make housing more available in the province by taxing cottage owners and others who live outside the province.<\/p>\n

Effective April 1, a transfer tax of 5% of the property’s value will be levied on non-residents of the province who buy a property and do not move to the province within six months of the closing date.<\/p>\n

In addition, property taxes of $2 per $100 of assessed value of residential properties owned by non-residents will be levied. The tax won’t apply to buildings with more than three units or those rented to Nova Scotians year round.<\/p>\n

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A growing scarcity of lower-cost housing has emerged as an issue in the province, as lower-income Nova Scotians have struggled to afford rising rents, and the province’s population topped one million people. The budget allocates $15 million for affordable housing programs and $2.7 million for new rent supplements.<\/p>\n
The Progressive Conservative government is forecasting a $506.2-million deficit in its first budget as it focuses on a campaign pledge to spend heavily on the province’s ailing health system.<\/p>\n
The $13.2-billion budget for 2022-23 tabled on Tuesday contains $5.7 billion for health care, an increase of $413.4 million compared to last year’s spending.<\/p>\n
Finance Minister Allan MacMaster said in his budget address that it’s an economic plan “for all the people and their families who waited for a doctor, a surgery, a nursing home room, a place to live.”<\/p>\n
It also contains the largest projected deficit since 2013-14. The red ink is just beginning, with the government estimating another $418-million deficit coming in 2023-24, and further deficits in the following two years.<\/p>\n
MacMaster echoed a theme the Premier Tim Houston frequently emphasized during the summer election campaign, saying in his speech that the province can no longer solve its health-care problems by “tinkering at the margins.”<\/p>\n
The increased spending for health includes $22.9 million to continue delivery of Covid-19 vaccines and $17.5 million to perform an additional 2,500 surgeries.<\/p>\n
Long-term care is also getting millions to help increase staffing levels, including $66.3 million to boost the wages of continuing care assistants.<\/p>\n
“In the case of continuing care assistants, we’ve given a 23% [wage] increase, which will effectively mean a $9,000-a-year raise …. We hope the free training and increased wages will attract more people,” the finance minister told reporters Tuesday.<\/p>\n
The funding for retaining and attracting staff is aimed at reaching a new standard of at least 4.1 hours of one-on-one care for every long-term care resident.<\/p>\n
In addition, over 40% of the province’s record-setting $1.6-billion capital budget announced last Wednesday is being directed at health spending, with a major portion going to hospital redevelopment projects in Halifax and Sydney.<\/p>\n
The initiatives for mental health were smaller-ticket items, such as $3.4 million being added to expand virtual care services.<\/p>\n
There is no increase for the income assistance rate in the budget, despite rising prices for food and other necessities.<\/p>\n
The government is encouraging people under 30 to take up the skilled trades, with a commitment to provide personal income tax refunds for the first $50,000 earned by these workers. The program begins this year, and it’s anticipated to cost about $80 million in lost tax revenues in 2023-24.<\/p>\n
The budget notes that the Russia-Ukraine conflict could pose “wide and significant” risks for its projections of economic growth of 2.1% this year and 1.6% in 2023.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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