NDP governments strike again

Full disclosure: I'm an accountant in Saskatchewan working in public practice, so of course I don't pay attention to the provincial budgets in other provinces.  For that reason, it came as a shock to learn that Manitoba companies have a tax on their payrolls:

The Health and Post Secondary Education Tax Levy (HE) is a tax imposed on remuneration that is paid to employees.  The HE is paid by employers with a permanent establishment in Manitoba.  Effective January 1, 2008, employers with total remuneration in a year of $1.25 million or less are exempted (see note below).  Associated groups (associated corporations/certain corporate partnerships) must share the $1.25 million exemption based on the total of their combined yearly payroll.

 In essence, if your company's payroll is greater than $1.25 million, then you are going to be paying an additional 4.3% tax to the Manitoba government for every dollar between $1.25 million and $2.5 million, and 2.15% on the entire payroll if your payroll is greater than $2.5 million.

Is it any wonder that governments are the largest employer in Manitoba?  Notwithstanding that Manitoba recently cut their corporate tax rate to zero, this just shows that they are still unfriendly to business BIG business, and this will ultimately hold them back.  Here's hoping that Saskatchewan passes them in population in the next few years.

h/t CTF