After years of advocacy, residents of Haida Gwaii are finally getting a long-awaited tax break.
NDP MP Taylor Bachrach says he has secured a commitment from the federal government to fully restore the Northern Residents Tax Deduction for Haida Gwaii residents.
The pledge was included in the government’s recent Fall Economic Statement and is something Bachrach has been pushing for since his election in 2019.
Bachrach notes that the high cost of living impacts everyone, but living on an island drives those costs even higher.
He says that’s why it was so important to ensure the full tax break is available to residents.
The Northern Residents Tax Deduction is designed to offset the higher cost of living in remote communities.
However, in the early 1990s, Ottawa reduced the deduction by half, and subsequent governments, including the Harper Conservatives, left the cut in place.
Bachrach says few issues have angered Haida Gwaii residents more than that reduction, but both Liberal and Conservative governments ignored calls to restore it. The new commitment reflects
Bill C-280 the Haida Gwaii Residents Tax Deduction Act, which Bachrach tabled in the House of Commons back in 2021.
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