Finance Minister Eric Girard hinted at a tax cut for Quebecers, preceded by a second check to counter inflation.
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Called to comment on the Auditor General’s report which revealed on Monday that inflation and the economic recovery had practically erased the deficit forecast for 2022, Minister Girard suggested that his government intends to lower taxes and distribute new checks once morest the inflation, if re-elected.
“We will go there directly with personal income tax cuts. It will stimulate the labor supply, it will encourage people to work more, it will stimulate the economy and it will help the creation of wealth, ”assured Mr. Girard in an interview with QUB radio on Monday.
“When we look at the tax burden of Quebecers, in comparison [de celui] other citizens in Canada or North America, the weight of taxation in Quebec is higher by approximately 5%. What we want is to reduce this tax burden,” he added.
That said, the inflation rate, which peaked in June in North America, should finally reach 6.5% in Quebec in 2022, well above the rate of 4.7% that had been forecast.
“So that justifies an additional one-off gesture to fight once morest the rising cost of living,” mentioned Mr. Girard when he was asked regarding the possibility of sending a second check to the majority of Quebecers.
Recession: one in three chance
Moreover, the looming economic slowdown is not unduly worrying the Minister of Finance.
In his eyes, the risk of seeing the province enter a recession by the end of 2023 remains at 35%, a prognosis unchanged since the beginning of the summer.
“The most likely scenario is not a recession,” he dropped.
