How the 2022-23 Saskatchewan budget affects you

Here’s how the Saskatchewan budget, released Wednesday, is going to impact you.

Psst! Get ready for an expanded PST

The province is expanding the Provincial Sales Tax for the third time since 2017.

(980 CJME file photo)

Starting Oct. 1, the six per cent PST will be collected on green fees and gym memberships, and on tickets to fairs, concerts, museums, entertainment events and sporting events such as Saskatchewan Roughriders games.

The expansion aligns with items on which the GST already is collected.

Children’s activities, amateur events and activities run by schools or non-profit charities will be exempt.

Previously, the PST was collected on things like appliances, home and auto insurance, used cars, children’s clothing, and repairs and renovations.

The government expects the expanded PST will create around $21 million in revenue annually.

Up in smokes

Those who use tobacco products will be paying more right away.

Starting at midnight Thursday, each cigarette sold in the province will cost two cents more, so the price of a pack of 25 will rise by 50 cents.

The price of tobacco will increase by eight cents per gram, and a stick of heat-not-burn products will go up by 1.3 cents.

The government expects the price increases will generate $12.1 million in revenue every year.

At the mill

The education portion of the mill rate will be increasing, with the owners of residential homes paying on average $13 more per year.

(980 CJME file photo)

The rates for agricultural properties will rise from 1.36 per cent to 1.42 per cent, residential properties will go from 4.46 per cent to 4.54 per cent, the rates for commercial/industrial properties will rise from 6.75 per cent to 6.86 per cent, and resource properties will see their rates increase from 9.79 per cent to 9.88 per cent.

The increases, combined with base growth forecast by the government, are expected to total about $20 million in 2022-23.

Wait watchers

Saskatchewan is spending an extra $21.6 million to address the increase in the surgical wait list that occurred during the COVID-19 pandemic — notably in areas that affect quality of life such as hip and knee replacements and cataracts.

Health Minister Paul Merriman recently said the wait list was up to around 30,000 patients and it’s going to take several years to whittle it down to pre-pandemic levels. But that’s the government’s plan, aiming to get wait times down to three months by March of 2025.

The province needs health-care professionals to address that, so one of the focuses in the budget is on recruiting and retaining those people.

In addition to doing surgeries in Saskatchewan Health Authority operating theatres, the government is looking at using private surgical providers to do publicly funded operations.