Greens would axe education property tax, make up funding with tax hike for corporations, high-income earners

Manitoba's Green Party is promising to scrap the province's education property tax if elected, replacing lost funding with revenue from increasedcorporate and personal income taxes.

"Most homeowners will be better off," said Green Leader James Beddome in a release Wednesday. "Small businesses would see no tax change and large corporations would take on a greater responsibility for funding education."

Under the party's plan, adults making less than $60,000 a year would pay less in taxes, and adults with incomes over that amountwould pay more.

The Green Party's figures say that after calculating the difference between the scrapped property tax and an income tax increase, those making between $60,000 and $70,000 would, on average, pay $87 more per year about 0.1 per cent of total income on average.

Those in the highest bracket people making $150,000 per year or more would, on average, pay anextra $6,232 per year (two per cent of income on average in that bracket, according to the Greens' numbers).

Beddome said under his party's plan, schools would retain the responsibility for decisions on how to spend discretionary funding to meet local needs.

The party leader, who is seeking election inFort Rouge, added his plan would not include the amalgamation of school divisions an idea suggested as a possibility by the Progressive Conservative government.

Municipal education property taxes contributed$851.8 million to theprojected operating expenditures on K-12 education in the province in 2018-19, according to Manitoba Education and Training.

Current system inequitable: Beddome

The Wednesday announcement comes a day after the Progressive Conservative party promised togradually phase the education tax out of property tax bills over the course of a decade, making up the difference with money fromgeneral revenues.

Manitoba school boards are the last in Canada with the power to collect their own taxes.

Beddome said in the party's release the plan would be more fair to schools. Currently, the varying revenue capacities of school divisions impactwhat they can afford, he said.

"The end result is an inequitable system in which some taxpayers pay too much, some school divisions are under-funded, and students are short-changed," he said in the release.

He added the change would also reduce an unfair tax burden on farmers. Currently in Manitoba, owners of farmlandcan apply for a rebate of up to 80 per cent of what they paid in education taxes, but must meet certain criteria.

Election day in Manitoba isSept. 10.

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