CHARLOTTETOWN, P.E.I. — Liberal MLA Heath MacDonald asked Premier Dennis King during question period on Tuesday how his government had arrived at the decision to put the brakes on tax cuts for small businesses.
The PC government’s platform pledged to reduce the small business tax rate from 3.5 per cent to one per cent within the first year of its mandate.
The promise came with a $6-million price tag, one of the most expensive promises in the $51.9 million platform.
But in a speech delivered at a Charlottetown Area Chamber of Commerce meeting in May, King said his government would be phasing in the tax cuts over multiple years.
MacDonald suggested that, because of the minority situation the King government, he would likely be introducing a 0.5 per cent reduction instead of a one per cent reduction in the tax rate this year.
"Can you inform the house who you had the give-and-take conversation with that prompted you to renege on this election promise within days of taking office?" MacDonald asked Tuesday during the first question period of the legislative session.
King said limits have been placed on the agenda items that can be implemented by his government due to consultation with Opposition parties.
"The give-and-take that I talk about is that other parties in this legislature want input and to drive the agenda of things that are important to them," King said. "Those initiatives come at a cost. If we were to put everything in that we wanted to put in and everything in that the Opposition party wanted to put in and everything that the third party wanted to put in, we wouldn't be able to maintain a surplus situation."
MacDonald said the King government had not consulted on the plan to phase in the tax cuts with the Liberal caucus. He also noted that the Green platform had included a small business tax reduction of 0.5 per cent.
MacDonald noted the PC platform contained 119 promises.
"Is there any of those that you're going to renege on in the next coming days, Mr. Premier?" MacDonald asked.
"Well, Mr. Speaker, if he's counted 119, I'd say there would be a lot of promises that are in that platform that we're not going to be able to do the first time,” King said. "We're in a collaborative environment and we have to be in a collaborative environment. We can't do it all one way, that's not what Islanders voted for."
