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Quebec government plans to create lower, more uniform school tax rate

During the campaign that saw the CAQ win power, François Legault pledged he would work quickly to provide Quebecers with financial relief.

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The Legault government will table legislation this autumn aimed at lowering school taxes and establishing a uniform school tax rate, Quebec’s finance minister said Wednesday.

Éric Girard told reporters in Quebec City that the move will be the first on the part of the provincial government to reduce the tax burden of Quebecers.

The National Assembly reconvenes Nov. 27 for just two weeks before recessing for the holidays, meaning that very few laws can be tabled in so narrow a time frame. The legislature will resume in February.

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During the election campaign that saw his Coalition Avenir Québec win power, François Legault pledged that if elected he would work quickly to provide Quebecers with some financial relief.

His original promise on school taxes, made in 2014, was to abolish them completely.

However, since then Legault has decided to proceed more methodically over the next four years, reducing the school tax rate by 10 cents for every $100 of property evaluation, a move that would result in a loss of revenue for the government of $700 million.

At the moment, school tax rates vary from region to region and even from one home to the next, a situation Legault has argued is unfair.

Meanwhile, Girard did not say on Wednesday just when the new government’s economic update would be delivered.

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