MORE PERSONAL INCOME TAX REDUCTIONS

Saskatchewan income tax rates come down again in 2003.



Effective January 1st, 2003 personal income tax rates came down, the non-

refundable tax credits for dependent children and seniors went up, and the

tax brackets were expanded so that more income is taxed at lower rates.



Saskatchewan Finance Minister Eric Cline said the January 1 tax cuts mark

the final phase of the four-year Tax Reform plan introduced in the March,

2000 Budget. "We promised an average Saskatchewan family would pay $1,000

less provincial income tax as a result of Tax Reform and that promise has

been kept. In 2003 an average family will pay $1,030 less than in 1999 and

$1,490 less than they did ten years ago. That family's provincial income

tax has declined by more than a third (37 per cent) since 1993 on the same

amount of income."



Effective January 1st, 2003 the first income tax rate drops from 11.25 per

cent to 11 per cent; the middle rate decreases from 13.25 per cent to 13

per cent, and the top rate falls from 15.5 per cent to 15 per cent. The 15

per cent top marginal rate is the third lowest in Canada.



Also effective January 1st, the non-refundable tax credit for seniors

increases from $750 to $1,000 and the child tax credit increases from

$2,000 to $2,500 per child. "Saskatchewan offers the only universal child

tax credit in Canada," Cline said. "This is a special incentive no other

province offers to young families."



The final January 1st change is a broadening of the three tax brackets.

The 11 per cent tax rate applies to the first $35,000 of taxable income in

2003. The 13 per cent rate applies to the next $65,000 and the 15 per cent

rate applies to remaining taxable income over $100,000. In 2002 the

initial tax rate (11.25 per cent) applied to the first $30,000, the middle

rate (13.25 per cent) to the next $30,000, and the top rate (15.5 per cent)

to remaining taxable income over $60,000.



The net effect of the four-year Tax Reform plan is that thousands of lower

income earners have been removed from the income tax rolls altogether,

while the remainder pay much lower tax rates. In total, Saskatchewan

taxpayers will pay $410 million less income tax in 2003 than they did prior

to Tax Reform.



Tax reductions will continue in 2004 with full indexation of the tax

brackets, the non-refundable tax credits, and the Saskatchewan Sales Tax

Credit.



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For more information, contact:



Roy Schneider

Saskatchewan Finance

Regina

Phone: (306) 787-8109