Taxes, fees remain stagnant but N.S. faces ‘significant’ deficit as budget day nears.

No tax increases, no fee increases but a lingering COVID deficit. That’s the way Finance Minister Labi Kousoulis and Premier Iain Rankin prefaced the Nova Scotia budget that is expected to be brought down this week. “Our revenue decisions are made,” Kousoulis said after a Thursday cabinet meeting. “There is no increase in taxes, no increase in fees, no new taxes, no (new) fees so that part of the budget process is complete.” In a December fiscal update, then finance minister Karen Casey forecast a deficit for the 2020-21 fiscal year that would climb toward $780 million. Stephen McNeil, before leaving the premier’s office, commented that the deficit could be reined in to about a half-billion dollars.