The new government of Nova Scotia has decided to axe the graduate retention rebate effective with the 2014 tax year.
As I understand it this means that no one will get the rebate in 2014 and onwards. No one – not even those to whom the rebate was already promised..
This is the type of retroactive tax changes I abhor. When changes are made they should go into effect ” from this day forward” NOT be able to change promises already made. When a graduate was granted that credit it was for 7 years. So anyone who has that credit should be able to receive it for all of the years that were originally granted, not have the rules changed during the promised time period.
The rationale that I heard was that the rebate was not working – that graduates were leaving Nova Scotia anyway. Of course we do not know how many graduates would have left without the credit – do we?? Perhaps retention of our graduates would have been far worse without this credit.
Many of my clients have used the rebate and there is a predictable amount of anger at its removal. A new generation of Nova Scotian’s are being shown that governments do not keep their promises.
It is not always easy to find work in NS and the big salaries out west call to our graduates. “Come out west – we have jobs, we want you! ”
It sounds like the NS government has abandoned the fight to keep our graduates here.
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