Liberal budget offers money for health care, tax cuts
| FEDERAL BUDGET HIGHLIGHTS |
| $11.5 billion in new health-care funding over five years. |
| Elimination of the three per cent surtax on income of $50,000 or higher. |
| $175 million in new funding for the military. The money will go to improve pay and living conditions. |
| Cost of paying interest on the debt has dropped to 27 cents of every dollar of federal revenue from 36 cents. |
| Single taxpayers earning $20,000 or less will have their federal income taxes reduced by at least 10 per cent. |
| Projected balanced budgets in the next two fiscal years. |
Doug Ashbury and Arthur Milnes
Northern News Services
NNSL (Feb 17/99) - The federal government will restore $11.5 billion to health care over the next five years and give a tax cut to all Canadians, Finance Minister Paul Martin announced during his budget statement yesterday.
"That (the (11.5 billion) is over and above what I thought," NWT Finance Minister John Todd said shortly after his counterpart in Ottawa finished delivering his address. "That's a reflection of an overall concern (about health care funding) across Canada and in the territories."
Todd also said Martin has struck a proper balance between program spending, deficit and debt cutting and tax decreases.
Martin described the budget as one which "makes the lives of Canadians better" and "demonstrates that the finances of this nation are now in better shape than they have been in a generation."
This is the second year in a row Martin has delivered a budget in the black. The last time this happened was 1951-52.
"That's an impressive accomplishment by Mr. Martin," Todd said.
Opposition politicians criticized the $11.5 billion, saying it falls short of what the strained health care system needs.
"This Liberal government has cut much more than $11.5 billion from health care since it was elected," Reform's Preston Manning said.
NDP Leader Alexa McDonough said the Liberals have simply replaced one dollar for every ten they've taken from health care since being elected in 1993.
Also on the health-care front, Martin said more money will be directed at community and distance health care -- among this area is telehealth, something especially relevant to the North.
On the tax side, the budget lowers tax for all Canadians by raising the basic exemption rate.
Martin also eliminated the three per cent surtax on Canadians earning $50,000 or more. It had been introduced as a temporary deficit fighting tool in 1985.
Mike Murphy, with accounting firm Ernst and Young, said the average Canadian will get about $200 in their pockets from the tax breaks.
To realize $1,000, it would take an income of around $100,000, he said.
