On 19 March 2024, New Brunswick Minister of Finance and Treasury Board Ernie Steeves tabled the province's fiscal 2024-25 budget. The budget includes targeted tax measures affecting individuals but contains no income tax increases for businesses or individuals.

The minister anticipates a surplus of CA$41m million for 2024-25 and projects surpluses for each of the next two years.

Following is a brief summary of the key tax measures.

Corporate income tax rates

No changes are proposed to the corporate income tax rates or the CA$500,000 small-business limit.

New Brunswick's 2024 corporate income tax rates are summarized in Table A.

Table A — 2024 New Brunswick corporate income tax rates¹

¹ The rates represent calendar-year-end rates unless otherwise indicated.

² The federal corporate income tax rates for manufacturers of qualifying zero-emission technology are reduced to 7.5% for eligible income otherwise subject to the 15% federal general corporate income tax rate or 4.5% for eligible income otherwise subject to the 9% federal small-business corporate income tax rate. These reductions are not reflected in the combined federal and New Brunswick rates, above.

³ An additional federal tax applies to banks and life insurers at a rate of 1.5% on taxable income (subject to a CA$100m exemption to be shared by group members).

Personal tax

No new personal income tax rates

The budget does not include any changes to personal income tax rates.

The 2024 New Brunswick personal income tax rates are summarized in Table B.

Table B — 2024 New Brunswick personal income tax rates

¹ Individuals resident in New Brunswick on 31 December 2024 with taxable income up to CA$21,342 pay no provincial income tax due to a low-income tax reduction. The low-income tax reduction is clawed back for income exceeding CA$21,342 until the reduction is eliminated, resulting in an additional 3% of provincial tax on income between CA$21,343 and CA$47,343.

For taxable income exceeding CA$173,205, the 2024 combined federal-New Brunswick personal income tax rates are outlined in Table C.

Table C — Combined 2024 federal and New Brunswick personal income tax rates

¹ The rate on capital gains is one-half the ordinary income tax rate.

² The federal basic personal amount comprises two elements: the base amount (CA$14,156 for 2024) and an additional amount (CA$1,549 for 2024). The additional amount is reduced for individuals with net income exceeding CA$173,205 and is fully eliminated for individuals with net income exceeding CA$246,752. Consequently, the additional amount is clawed back on net income exceeding CA$173,205 until the additional tax credit of CA$232 is eliminated; this results in additional federal income tax (e.g., 0.32% on ordinary income) on net income between CA$173,206 and CA$246,752.

Other personal tax measures

This budget proposes changes to the following personal credits/amounts:

• New nonrefundable personal income tax credits are introduced for eligible volunteer firefighters and search and rescue volunteers, effective for the 2024 taxation year. The budget did not provide any further details on these new credits.
• A CA$200 Low-Income Seniors' Affordability Supplement will be available for individuals eligible for the 2024 Low-Income Seniors' Benefit. Applications for the 2024 benefit will be available on 1 April 2024.
• Proposed legislation will be tabled to permanently increase the base amount of the Low-Income Seniors' Benefit from CA$400 to CA$600; the value of the benefit will be indexed to the Consumer Price Index annually, beginning with the 2025 benefit year.

Other tax measures

Tax on vaping products

The budget confirms the government's intention to join the federally coordinated vaping product taxation framework in 2024-25. Under the agreement, the Canada Revenue Agency will be responsible for administering and collecting the vaping duty, effective 1 January 2025.

In addition, a provincial excise duty will apply at a rate of rate of CA$1 per 2 milliliters or grams (ml(g)), or fraction thereof, for the first 10 ml(g) of vaping substance and CA$1 per 10 ml(g), or fraction thereof, for additional volumes.

For up-to-date information on the federal, provincial and territorial budgets, visit ey.com/ca/Budget.