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SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - Yellowknife members of the legislative assembly say the premier will face strong opposition if he decides to go ahead with tax increases.

Premier Floyd Roland and Finance Minister Michael Miltenberger warned last week that the territorial government may have to raise taxes or create new ones to cover a shortfall of $40 million over two years. The personal income tax, fuel tax, corporate taxes plus airport fees and a sales tax are among several options on the table.

Great Slave MLA Glen Abernethy said the options given in the discussion paper released by the finance department are not the answer to revenue problems - particularly a proposed territorial sales tax.

"We need to be looking at options to encourage people to live and stay in the NWT," Abernethy said.

"Most of the taxes identified will chase people away."

He said the territory already faces a problem with the cost of living and these options would only increase the cost and make the North an unattractive place to live. A fuel tax, even if it wasn't applied to home heating, would still be a crippling blow to already sky-high living costs.

"As costs increase through transport, our costs go up too," he said. "It's going to cause us problems. I'm leery about increasing taxes on fuel. A significant amount of discussion has to happen around this."

Kam Lake MLA Dave Ramsay is at a loss of the rationale behind these options, considering the track record of the Roland government.

"It's hard for me to believe that they would put the fear of God into residents and potential residents when they know what is at stake," he said, referring to the $22,000 per person the territory receives from the federal government. "People equal money."

Ramsay said if tax increases make it to the budget next year he would absolutely oppose it.

"It's already so expensive to live in the NWT," he said. "Here we are at looking ways at getting more money out of the people and it's not going to fly.

"I intend to fight it to the bitter end."

Creative ways of raising revenues need to be explored instead of tax options, Ramsay said. With no progress on resource revenue sharing with the federal government, he added, the GNWT needs to start looking into equity investment sharing within resource development opportunities.

"Why don't we put money where we can make money," he said. "This is the type of thing that people need to start thinking about. The future depends on it."

Wendy Bisaro, MLA for Frame Lake, said she doesn't really have a position on the tax options just yet, but hopes to develop a better understanding.

"I'm looking forward to the comments that will be coming from the public," she said.

Bisaro said the Union of Northern Workers paper released last year had some great options for raising revenues that could have been included in the discussion paper. She said it's important to take into consideration the consequences of raising taxes and that the GNWT should look at options less likely to affect citizens.

"I think we need to minimize the impact on the individual," she said. "Because we don't get any revenue from the resources and no royalties, I think we need to try and tap into that somehow."

Encouraging people to settle in the NWT, as proposed in the discussion paper, is one point that Abernethy firmly believes is crucial to the future of the territory.

"We're shrinking, we're not growing," he said. "With more people, we get more federal transfer and more money spent in the territory on goods and services. We need to do a better job of advertising the value of what we have in the North."

Ramsay said increasing payroll tax on workers flying in and out of the North would benefit the NWT greatly, seeing as it takes more than $300-million out of the territory each year.

Weledeh MLA Bob Bromley said he isn't necessarily opposed to tax hikes, especially taxes on resources, but wants more information first.

"We have a big list of things we could be doing with additional funding," said Bromley.