On March 19, 2024, Finance and Treasury Board Minister Ernie Steeves presented New Brunswick’s budget for 2024–25. Titled “Stronger Than Ever: Let’s Keep Building,” the pre-election budget projects a surplus of approximately $41 million, while focusing on the province’s key priorities of improving healthcare, education, and affordable housing and supporting vulnerable residents.
This year’s budget includes a few interesting tax measures, as summarized below.
Vaping Product Taxation
This year’s budget indicates the province intends to enter into the federal government’s coordinated vaping product taxation agreement. It is expected that the coordinated vaping duty will be put in place on January 1, 2025. The federal government will be responsible for the administration and enforcement of the vaping duty, which is based on the volume of vaping substance in each product. The agreement provides for a provincial excise duty rate of $1 per two millilitres or grams, or fraction thereof, for the first 10 millilitres or grams of vaping substance, and $1 per 10 millilitres or grams, or fraction thereof, for additional volumes. The provincial excise duty will be in addition to the federal duty.
Personal Income Tax Measures
The province also announced a few proposed amendments to the New Brunswick Income Tax Act for personal income tax purposes, including:
- New, non-refundable personal income tax credits for eligible volunteer firefighters and search and rescue volunteers, effective for the 2024 tax year;
- An increase to the base amount of the Low-Income Seniors’ Benefit from $400 to $600, with annual indexation of the benefit value to the Consumer Price Index starting in 2025; and
- A $200 supplement for anyone eligible for the 2024 Low-Income Seniors’ Benefit.
More Information
Further information on New Brunswick's 2024–2025 budget may be found on the province’s website here.
To read key updates from all of Canada’s 2024 provincial budgets, please visit our Key Changes | 2024 Canadian Federal and Provincial Budgets page.
If you have any questions about how these proposed changes might impact your organization, please do not hesitate to contact the Ryan TaxDirect® line at taxdirect@ryan.com or 1.800.667.1600.