Political parties given guide for costing election promises

Finance Minister Blaine Higgshas released a four-year economic and financial outlook the includes information to help political parties put a cost on their promises in their upcoming election campaign.

The new Fiscal Transparency and Accountability Act requires the finance minister to publish such an outlook within 90 days of a fixed election date. New Brunswick will hold a provincial election on Sept. 22.

Under the new law, political parties must put a cost on their election promises or run the risk of losing their provincial funding based on the number of votes they receive.

The Pre-Election Economic and Fiscal Outlook 2014-15 to 2017-18 includes "rule-of-thumb" guidelines on revenue and expenses to help parties cost their promises.

The document includes a list of the approximate financial impact of various possible election promises:

• 1 kilometre of moose fencing along a highway - $100,000
• 1 kilometre of four-land arterial highway with interchanges - $2.9 million to $4.2-million
• 1 kilometre of local road construction - $500,000 to $1 million
• 1 kilometre of paving - $250,000 to$400,000
• 1 pupil decrease in pupil/educator ratio in schools - $51 million per year
• $1 an hour increase in pay for home care workers - $6.3 million per year
• Building a k-5 school - $10million to$15-million
• Building a high school - more than$30million
• Building a small rural health centre - $2million
• Building a large urban health centre - $5million
• Building a 45-bed hospital - $100million
• Building a 302-bed hospital - more than$500 million.
• Building a 60-bed nursing home - $15-million

"This selection is by no means exhaustive and cannot cover all potential commitments," states the outlook.

"Expense and revenue estimates are high-level and are subject to change based on assumptions and the economy."

Examples of the estimated revenue effect of onepercentage point change in various key tax rates arealso listed:

• Personal income taxes (all levels) - $119.6 million
• Harmonized sales tax - $140 million
• General corporate income tax - $17 million
• Tobacco tax - $8 million
• Gasoline tax - $10 mi.llion