Thousands of crores for state employees and nothing for employers

Due to wage revisions, compensation costs for government employees will increase by $4.2 billion in the next fiscal year 2023-24, or 7.5% over the current fiscal year.

This is arguably a minimal increase as negotiations are still ongoing for new collective agreements with civil servants and other employees of the Quebec government.

The Legault government’s compensation costs will reach $60.5 billion.

A $4 billion leap

This includes $52 billion in salaries and fees, up 8.4% from 2022-23, or $4 billion more than the current fiscal year.

Benefits and contributions to employee pension plans total $8.5 billion, or nearly $200 million.

A lion’s share of health

The Department of Health and Social Services accounted for 78.2% of the increase in compensation costs, or $3.3 billion of a total of $4.2 billion.

According to the spending budget, state employee pay will monopolize 52.4% of the CAQ government’s program spending next fiscal year, reaching $115.5 billion next year.

Municipal taxes have nothing…

Bad news for landowners.

Finance Minister Eric Girard has taken no action to combat the sharp increase in municipal taxes facing millions of property owners this year after the new municipal assessment roll was filed.

Households have seen municipal tax bills rise by 10 to 30% and more.

… or school taxes

And as for school taxes, even in the new budget we find no measure or any indication of what will happen to the next 2023-24 school tax bill that will be sent to us next July.

Because the school tax rate is uniform, this suggests that people struggling with major municipal tax increases are also victims of significant increases in their school tax bills.

for what Because the school tax is based on the municipal valuation of the property. The current school tax rate is estimated to be 10.24 cents per $100.

The government will soon decide the new school tax rate for the year 2023-24.

Special 65 years and over…

Starting next year, workers aged 65 and older who receive pensions from the Quebec Pension Plan (QPP) will no longer be required to contribute to the QPP as they currently do. This applies to both salaried employees and self-employed workers. Naturally, those who wish to continue contributing to the QPP will be able to do so.

It goes without saying that employers will appreciate the enactment of this measure. This allows them to save on the QPP contribution payable to these same workers.

Note: Workers aged 65 and over who have not yet applied for their QPP pensions must contribute to the plan.

Another important measure related to the QPP: By next year, the obligation to contribute to the QPP will be abolished for all workers who turn 73.