Budget 2024

Summary: Prince Edward Island Budget 2024

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Finance Minister Jill Burridge tabled Prince Edward Island’s 2024-25 budget (PEI Budget 2024) on February 29, 2024.
Contents

PEI Budget 2024 introduces a lower personal tax rate beginning in 2025 and raises the income tax bracket thresholds. In addition, the budget announces a new monthly benefit intended to help families with children.

PEI Budget 2024 projects a deficit of $85.5 million for the 2023-24 fiscal year, compared to a $97.6 million deficit projected in the previous budget.

Fiscal projections for the next three years are as follows:

Year Projected surplus/(deficit)
2024-25 ($85.0 million)
2025-26 ($59.5 million)
2026-27 ($30.5 million)

Business tax measures

Corporate tax rates

PEI Budget 2024 announces no changes to the corporate tax rates or the $500,000 small business limit.

2024 combined federal and provincial corporate tax rates

Small business tax rate General corporate tax rate Manufacturing and processing tax rate
10.0% 31.00% 31.00%

Personal tax measures

Personal income tax rates

PEI Budget 2024 raises the income tax bracket thresholds and lowers the tax rates beginning in 2025, except for the highest income tax bracket, which will see an increase in the tax rate.

The indexed personal tax brackets and the respective marginal tax rates for 2024 and 2025 are as follows:

2024 2025
Tax brackets Marginal tax rates Tax brackets Marginal tax rates
$ 32,656 or less 9.65% $ 33,328 or less 9.50%
$ 32,657 - $ 64,313 13.63% $ 33,329 - $ 64,656 13.47%
$ 64,314 - $ 105,000 16.65% $ 64,657- $ 105,000 16.60%
$105,001 - $ 140,000 18.00%     $ 105,001 - $ 140,000     17.62%
$ 140,001 and over 18.75%  $ 140,001 and over 19.00%

The top combined federal and provincial marginal tax rates for 2024 are as follows:

Taxable income 2024
Salary/interest   51.75%  
Capital gains   25.88%  
Eligible dividends   36.20%  
Non-eligible dividends   47.63%  

PEI children’s benefit

PEI Budget 2024 introduces an additional monthly benefit to families with children, starting in January 2025. PEI Budget 2024 doesn’t include further details on how the benefit will be calculated. However, in an example, the budget states that the PEI children’s benefit could potentially provide a family with two children and a net household income below $45,000 with $720 per year. Families with incomes ranging from $45,000 - $80,000 will also receive prorated benefits.

Basic personal amount

PEI Budget 2024 increases the basic personal income tax exemption to $14,250 for 2025 (from $13,500 for 2024). This non-refundable tax credit applies using the lowest personal income tax rate of 9.5% and will provide up to $1,354 in provincial tax relief for 2025.

Sales tax measures

PEI Budget 2024 proposes no changes to the current 15% Harmonized Sales Tax (HST) rate, which is composed of a federal component of 5% and a provincial component of 10%.

Other notable measures

  • Housing – PEI Budget 2024 invests $10 million to develop affordable housing units and keep existing units within the market through the Community Housing Expansion program. The budget also provides $6.7 million to provide tax rebates for builders for newly constructed multi-unit residential buildings.
  • Health care – PEI Budget 2024 provides $10.5 million to continue to add patient medical homes across the province, $7.1 million to add more doctors and more residency seats, and $6.2 million to recruit more health care professionals.
  • Education – PEI Budget 2024 invests $7 million to hire more front-line workers, such as teachers, school counselors, and bus drivers. The budget also provides $4.3 million to continue $10/day child care, $1 million to support school breakfast and lunch programs, $940k to increase the annual George Coles Bursary to $3,200, and $708k to implement an elementary school aged vision care program.
  • Transportation – PEI Budget 2024 invests $1 million to expand public transit routes and ensure fares remain the same (i.e., $2 per ride, $20 for general monthly passes, and $10 for students and seniors monthly passes).
  • Seniors – PEI Budget 2024 introduces home-based restorative care and provides support for provincial homecare services for seniors with a $4.9 million investment. The budget also provides $380K to low-income seniors to help with the cost of household services.

 

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Visit our Budget 2024 hub to learn more about all federal and provincial budgets.   

 

Disclaimer 
The information contained herein is general in nature and is based on proposals that are subject to change. It is not, and should not be construed as, accounting, legal or tax advice or an opinion provided by Doane Grant Thornton LLP to the reader. This material may not be applicable to, or suitable for, specific circumstances or needs and may require consideration of other factors not described herein.