Taxpayers in all three territories should tell Ottawa to increase the Northern Residence Income Tax Deduction, says Bill Braden, the MLA for Great Slave in the Northwest Territories legislature.

'Federal Finance Minister Jim Flaherty is asking Canadians for their advice for his March 19 budget, so let's tell him that after 16 years, this tax adjustment is long overdue,' said Braden, who was a downtown Whitehorse art dealer in the 1980s.

The deduction now gives each taxpayer in the Yukon, Nunavut and N.W.T. a $5,475 exemption to recognize the higher costs of living North of 60.

'The problem is, this has not been adjusted since 1991,' said Braden.

'In the meantime, the cost of living has soared almost 150 per cent. We estimate that every year, on average, northerners spend $2,000 more for food, $2,400 more for housing and $1,200 more for utilities than southern Canadians and those are after-tax costs.'

Braden wants the deduction increased by 50 per cent. That would mean northerners making $60,000 a year would keep an extra $838 in their pockets.

He moved a motion in the N.W.T. legislature in February 2006, calling on the government to press Ottawa to review the deduction.

While increasing the tax break would result in a clawback of about $3 million from the Northwest Territories government's own finances, Braden said the money would do more good if it stayed in taxpayers' pockets from the start.

Finance Canada is inviting Canadians to comment on-line by the deadline of tomorrow.

Interested respondents can log onto Finance Canada's website at www.fin.gc.ca and follow the links to Pre Budget Consultations.

Comments are limited to 50 words for personal tax issues, plus four other categories.

In the early 1980s, a budget from the late Pierre Trudeau's Liberal government proposed eliminating the northern benefit altogether.

It took a concerted effort from northern business leaders, including Bill Dunbar, then the president of Northwestel Inc. in Whitehorse, to persuade the government to back down and retain the tax benefit.