Canadian Payroll Reporter

News Published 12 times a year by thomson reuters canada Ltd. Subscription rate: $179 per year customer service Tel: (416) 609-3800 (Toronto) (800) 387-5164 (outside Toronto) Fax: (416) 298-5106 E-mail: carswell.customerrelations @thomsonreuters.com Website: www.carswell.com One Corporate Plaza 2075 Kennedy Road Toronto, Ontario, Canada M1T 3V4 Director, Carswell Media karen Lorimer Publisher John hobel (on leave) Managing Editor/Acting Publisher todd humber Editor sheila Brawn sbrawn@rogers.com Assistant Editor mallory hendry Marketing Manager mohammad ali mm.ali@thomsonreuters.com (416) 609-5866 Circulation Co-ordinator keith Fulford keith.fulford@thomsonreuters.com (416) 649-9585 Payroll Reporter Can R Can R adian adian a www.payrollreporter.com ©2015 Thomson Reuters Canada Ltd ISBN/ISSN: 978-0-7798-2810-4 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, photocopying, recording or otherwise without the written permission of the publisher (Carswell, a Thomson Reuters business). Return Mail Registration # 1522825 | Return Postage Guaranteed Paid News Revenue Toronto Canadian Payroll Reporter is part of the Canadian HR Reporter group of publications: • Canadian HR Reporter — www.hrreporter.com • Canadian Occupational Safety magazine — www.cos-mag.com • Canadian Payroll Reporter — www.payroll-reporter.com • Canadian Employment Law Today — www.employmentlawtoday.com • Canadian Labour Reporter — www.labour-reporter.com See carswell.com for information increase to the basic personal amount once the province's fi- nances allow for it. In the mean- time, she suggests the province increase the basic dependent amount by the cost of living. Although the report recom- mends the government shift from an emphasis on personal and corporate income taxes to consumption taxes, Broten does not advise the government to raise the HST rate. The rate is currently set at 15 per cent, made up of five per cent GST and 10 per cent the Nova Scotia sales tax portion. The previous provincial gov- ernment raised the HST rate to 15 per cent from 13 per cent, then promised to lower it to 14 per cent in 2014 and to 13 per cent in 2015. The current gov- ernment cancelled the rate re- ductions, saying it could not af- ford the loss of revenue. Instead of rate changes, Bro- ten suggests the government broaden the base for the tax by removing exemptions that cur- rently apply to certain goods and services. She acknowledges this may be difficult for the govern- ment to do. "Reducing the provincial in- come tax, while maintaining the 15 per cent consumption tax and broadening its base to include more goods may be a hard politi- cal sell. But it is the right thing for Nova Scotia to do." Broten also recommends the government phase in a pollution tax over the next 10 years, with revenue from the measure going towards support for low-income families and lower corporate and personal income taxes. It would be similar to the carbon tax in British Columbia, where the provincial government is re- quired by law to use the carbon tax revenue to reduce personal and business taxes. In addition to new tax mea- sures, the report recommends that the government reduce red tape for businesses and indi- viduals by repealing outdated or inefficient regulations and from NovA sCoTiA on page 3 Mixed reaction to income tax report amending other regulations to make them easier with which to comply and to reduce overlap and redundancies. Broten does not recom- mend the government make the changes overnight or all at once. She suggests a 10-year window, with incremental changes being introduced each year, beginning in 2015. Reaction to report Reaction to the report has been mixed. The Halifax Chamber of Commerce says it agrees with the report's recommendations for a revenue-neutral shift from personal to consumption taxes, lower personal and corporate in- come taxes and the indexing tax brackets. The CFIB says it likes the in- dexation recommendations and the plan to raise the basic per- sonal amount. However, it has concerns with a recommenda- tion calling for a small business tax hike. A union representing public sector workers in the province says it "strongly opposes" the report's recommendations and sees them as a step backwards for the province. "How else can you describe an economic plan that proposes freezing program spending, moving away from a progressive tax system to in- creased consumption taxes, and tax breaks for higher income Nova Scotians and big business? This plan will adversely affect most Nova Scotians," says Joan Jessome, president of the Nova Scotia Government and General Employees Union. Nova Scotia Finance and Treasury Board Minister Diana Whalen has not yet indicated which, if any, of the recommen- dations the government would implement. She said the gov- ernment wants feedback from provincial residents before an- nouncing any possible changes. "The next step is a full discus- sion about how best to make the necessary changes to strengthen Nova Scotia's future. I will out- line the first steps in a long-term plan in budget 2015-16." January 2015 | CPR New U.S. laws 'send message' to employers for employers to communicate the purpose of the policy to employees so workers only use the days for sickness. It is also important for employers to track employee absences to make sure that the policy is working as it should, said Pellegrini. If employers will not offer paid sick days on their own, Johns says it may be necessary for governments to mandate them. He says he would be in favour of legislation as long as it was fairly simple and straightforward. "There are some issues here having to do with small employers and so on that have to be dealt with, but I think this might be al- right," Johns says. "What I would object to is some giant, complicated regime being established to run this that makes it more trouble than it's worth. It's not so much developing a plan for sick days, it's all the baggage that surrounds it. If that could be minimized, I think this may be the look of the future," he adds. Even though the number of paid days off that U.S. states are mandating is relatively low compared to the number already of- fered by some employers with sick pay plans, Johns says "I think they send a message. They provide a minimum level of coverage and they signal that this is the kind of thing that we expect employers in this day and age to do." from siCK dAYs on page 6

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