MLA Puts Price On Budget, Chamber Concerned About Burden

Feb 19, 2019 | 5:08 PM

Vernon Monashee Liberal MLA Eric Foster says with the increase in the carbon and other taxes, the NDP’s new BC budget will cost every resident of BC an extra $1,100 a year.

“And that $1,100 is net for those who were paying the MSP premiums that they won’t have to pay anymore. So a family of four is $4,400. It comes right out of their hip pocket,” Foster tells Beach Radio News.

Foster says the millions of dollars in spending promises have to be paid for somehow.

“It all looks good on the surface, like the no interest loans and so on. Sure, it’s going to benefit the students, but all they’re doing is taking our money and then divvying it up to some other people.”

Foster says he likens the balanced budget to Quebec budgets.

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“They balance their budgets in Quebec because they get billions of dollars in (federal) transfer payments. In 2017 in Canada, it was a bumper year, and the feds sent out transfer payments to the provinces. There is 103 billion dollars in this budget as a result of that federal transfer payment in 2018 based on 2017 revenue federally.”

The Greater Vernon Chamber of Commerce welcomes the provincial budget’s focus on affordability for average British Columbians, but there’s a concern about the growing financial burden facing business.

Small and medium-sized enterprises are facing $5 billion in cumulative cost increases over the next three years.

“The layers of tax eat into the bottom line and increasingly make it challenging for businesses in the North Okanagan and across the province to be competitive,” said Dione Chambers, Greater Vernon Chamber of Commerce general manager.

“At the same time that the government is trying to make life affordable for individuals and families through housing and child care, affordability is a real issue for businesses who provide employment opportunities for individuals in our community.”

Since the Budget 2017 update, the corporate tax rate has gone from 11 to 12 per cent while the carbon tax is climbing by another $5 per tonne in April, on its way to $50 per tonne by 2021. The first full year of the Employers Health Tax will see $1.9 billion raised in 2019/20 at the same time that MSP premiums are still collected over this fiscal year, creating a double-dip scenario for business.

by Corey Fischer