The fiscal distribution of the provincial-municipal service exchange in Nova Scotia

While assessments of distributional fiscal impacts are considered a fundamental principle in Canadian public policy this article demonstrates that recent provincial-municipal service disentanglement initiatives in Nova Scotia followed vague service classifications at the expense of basic distributional considerations. After the 1995 service exchange in Nova Scotia, the municipalities with the weakest taxable assessment base faced increased costs in service provision and governance functions, while the financial burden of service delivery in municipalities with the richest taxable assessment was reduced by those service realignment initiatives.