NEW BRUNSWICK - In an effort to raise much-needed provincial revenue, the New Brunswick government earlier this week trimmed spending and eliminated a tax rate cut for high-income earners, and increased taxes on cigarettes and gas, The Canadian Press reports.

Finance Minister Blaine Higgs introduced an $8-billion budget that includes a nearly $449-million deficit, though the figure is less than half the $1 billion deficit that the government projected last November.

Last year, New Brunswick officials ordered departments to reduce spending by one percent in the current fiscal year and two percent in each of the next three years, cuts that have resulted in more than $200 million in savings for 2011-12.

"I want to make it clear that we are very serious about spending restraint," Higgs said.

As of yesterday, New Brunswick??s cigarette tax increased $1.31 a pack, a spike that is expected to generate an extra $25 million in annual revenue.

Additionally, motorists have begun paying 2.9 cents per liter ($0.11 per gallon) more in gasoline tax and 2.3 cents per liter more ($0.089 per gallon) on diesel, increases that are expected to raise $44 million more in annual revenue and cost the average New Brunswicker an extra $85 a year per vehicle.

Higgs said those changes will help the government balance the budget by 2014-15.

"This budget is only the beginning," he said. "Together we are partners for change in the way New Brunswick, both as a government and as a province, will operate in the future."

Andrea Bourgeois, spokesperson for the Canadian Federation of Independent Business, worries about the increases.

"Other tax increases ?" such as the gas tax ?" will take some of the competitive advantage away," she said.

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