Charting a path for growth : Nova Scotia tax and regulatory review

The Ivany report, summarized the challenge this way: After two decades and more of slow economic growth, and with an aging population, Nova Scotians are on the verge of a significant and prolonged decline in their standard of living, in the quality of public services and amenities and in our population base, most seriously in the rural regions of the province. [...] The province drew on the report of the Nova Scotia Commission on Building the New Economy as context for the review. [...] A project team from the Department of Finance and Treasury Board, the Office of Priorities and Planning, and the Department of Economic and Rural Development worked to make data and analysis available. [...] The writing and work of Saint Mary’s University Professor Barry Gorman; the Mowat Centre at the University of Toronto’s School for Public Policy and Governance; the University of Calgary’s School for Public Policy, specifically the work of Jack Mintz; and the book Tax Is Not a Four-Letter Word: A Different Take on Taxes in Canada, edited by Alex Himelfarb and Jordan Himelfarb, were all helpful. [...] The province has autonomy to set the provincial portion of the tax rate, and to rebate the provincial portion of the tax.