June 24, 2020
Measures to Make Life More Affordable for Manitobans Take Effect July 1
– – –Changes Will Save Hard-Working Manitobans More Than $80 Million: Fielding
Several key measures introduced by the Manitoba government to reduce costs for citizens and businesses will come into effect July 1, Finance Minister Scott Fielding announced today.
“Our government is committed to making life more affordable for Manitobans, and we especially want to ensure we are supporting families and businesses during the difficult financial times brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Fielding. “Over the past months, we have introduced several measures that will take effect July 1 and save Manitobans more than $80 million this year, at a time when they need it most.”
In April, the province announced it would make home and business property insurance more affordable by accelerating the removal of $75 million of annual provincial sales tax (PST) from residential and business properties, effective July 1. The province estimates removing the sales tax on property insurance will save residential property owners $38 million per year and commercial property owners $37 million a year.
Starting July 1, the province is reducing vehicle registration fees by 10 per cent, which is expected to save drivers $11 million, and builds on the $110 million in rebate cheques that Manitoba Public Insurance returned to policyholders this spring.
The minister said these measures are among several in the 2020 Tax Rollback Guarantee, introduced by the Manitoba government to make life more affordable for individuals, families and businesses.
“We want to help Manitoba taxpayers hang on to more of their hard-earned dollars, which is even more important in these challenging times brought on by the global pandemic,” said Fielding. “These measures build on other tax initiatives our government has introduced, such as reducing the PST to seven per cent from eight, indexing the basic personal allowance and personal income tax brackets, and removing PST from the preparation of wills.”
Due to COVID-19, the province also extended filing deadlines for small and medium-sized businesses with monthly remittances of no more than $10,000 for the April, May and June sales tax and Health and Post-Secondary Education Tax Levy, commonly called the payroll tax. Fielding announced today the deadlines are now being extended through September.
He noted in April and May, the sales and payroll tax deferrals resulted in close to $11 million in savings for Manitoba businesses.
Information on filing requirements is available at www.gov.mb.ca/finance/taxation/bulletins.html.
As the premier announced in late March, due to the unanticipated costs and reduced revenues caused by COVID-19, Manitoba has delayed its planned PST reduction to six per cent from seven and the implementation of a green levy until 2021. Both were initially planned to take effect July 1.
For a comprehensive list of Manitoba government measures related to the pandemic, visit https://manitoba.ca/bg/2020/04/covid19.html.
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