With election campaign on horizon, N.B. Tories promise 2-point HST cut if re-elected

The New Brunswick Progressive Conservatives are promising to cut the Harmonized Sales Tax by two percentage points, to 13 per cent, if they are re-elected.

Blaine Higgs, leader of the Progressive Conservatives, and New Brunswick premier, made the announcement in a campaign-style news conference in Moncton, N.B.

The election campaign hasn’t officially been called but voters must head to the polls no later than Oct. 21.

The party held simultaneous news conferences at four locations across the province today, with candidate Kris Austin telling reporters in Fredericton that the party would cut the HST by one point a year over two years.

Austin, who is also minister of public safety in Higgs’s government, says that when the cut is fully implemented it will save New Brunswickers about $1,000 per year.

The two per cent cut would put the province on par with Ontario, which has an HST of 13 per cent.