Manitoba Finance Minister Cameron Friesen presented Budget 2016 today, announcing no new taxes or tax increases. Friesen says the province will also not be drawing from the Fiscal Stabilization Fund.

This year's budget includes indexing of the basic personal exemption as of January 1, 2017, indexing of income tax brackets to the rate of inflation, and continued education tax relief for Manitoba seniors through the Seniors' School Tax Rebate.

The budget also calls for a $220 million (3.8 per cent) increase in funding for health care, a $37 million (1.4 per cent) increase in funding for education and $1.8 billion for strategic infrastructure funding for roads and bridges, flood protection, hospitals, schools, universities and colleges and municipal infrastructure.

"We have set a target of achieving balance within eight years by pursuing measures that will responsibly address the unsustainable trajectory of spending increases while ensuring the protection of front-line services for all Manitobans," says Friesen.

Budget 2016 reduces Manitoba's core deficit by $122 million.