Provincial budget & finance

BC Budget 2017: $600 million in tax breaks for business

Mar 17, 2017
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Does the BC business sector need a tax cut? Not so much. But Budget 2017 promises to give business over $600 million in additional annual tax breaks nonetheless. That’s more than half a billion dollars annually that won’t be invested in creating affordable high-quality child care spaces, building affordable housing (as opposed to a one-off… View Article

Highlights from BC Budget 2017

Feb 21, 2017
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The 2017 BC Budget was just released; here’s our analysis so far: MSP goes down for families with income under $120,000 MSP premiums are going to be cut in half for families with incomes under $120,000 as of January 2018. Essentially, BC Budget 2017 reverses the MSP increases this government implemented over the last 15… View Article

What you need to know about the provincial debt

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One of the more memorable promises Premier Clark made in the last election was the one of a debt-free BC (in 20 years or so). So it’s understandable that people are interested in what has happened to BC’s debt since then. Provincial debt has increased from $60.7 billion in 2013/2014 to an estimated $69.8 billion… View Article

Tax fairness in BC? Hardly

Feb 16, 2017
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Tax cuts disproportionately benefitted the richest 1% of British Columbians, write @IglikaIvanova & @1alexhemingway: https://t.co/iZbcztdPem pic.twitter.com/BavNnT2WWp — The CCPA–BC (@CCPA_BC) February 16, 2017 As we wait to hear more about the tax cuts coming in BC Budget 2017, it is important to remember what has happened to our provincial tax system over the past 16… View Article

The problem with tax cuts: The promise doesn’t match the reality

Feb 15, 2017
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The big news item in yesterday’s BC throne speech was that the Premier’s plan to relieve affordability pressures for families will include tax cuts of some sort. The problem with this plan: the inevitable flip side of tax cuts is lost public revenues. And while most governments—including Clark’s—promise that tax cuts won’t affect public services, the reality… View Article

BC’s natural gas giveaway: Production soars, revenues plummet

Feb 9, 2017
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Not long ago, BC received huge annual royalty revenues from its growing natural gas sector. The revenues were often billed as paying for essential public services like health care and education, and were appealing politically as they meant governments did not have to raise taxes to do so. The provincial government claimed that new production… View Article

Taking stock of BC’s new (affordable?) housing policies

Jan 11, 2017
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In 2016, the BC government set out several new actions intended to address housing affordability. But as 2017 begins, Metro Vancouver continues to have a massive problem – in both home ownership affordability and rental markets. This threatens to undermine the region’s long-term prosperity by driving out young people and making it harder to attract… View Article