The B.C. NDP’s first budget in government is getting mostly positive reviews from North Shore housing, social services and business advocates.
Finance Minister Carol James delivered the budget in the legislature on Monday, bringing with it $51.9 billion in spending. Among the bigger ticket items: $208 million over four years to build 1,700 new units of affordable rental housing, a 50 per cent reduction in MSP premiums, increases in welfare and disability payments and $172 million to build 2,000 units of modular housing for the homeless.
While it does not include the $10 per day child-care plan the party campaigned on, it does include an extra $20 million to create up to 4,100 child-care spaces.
On the tax side of things, the province is upping the corporate tax rate from 11 to 12 per cent, increasing the carbon tax by $5 per tonne per year and establishing an individual income tax rate of 16.8 per cent for taxable income over $150,000. The small business tax rate, for businesses making less than $500,000 in profit per year, is going down half a per cent to two per cent.
The spending boosts for social services benefiting people scraping by were long overdue, said Don Peters, chairman of the North Shore Community Resources’ community housing action committee.
“After years and years of mean-spirited budgets, at least on the social side, from the dearly departed Liberals, this is really quite a welcome change. That’s for sure,” he said.
Peters said he was disappointed to see the $400 annual rebate for renters the NDP had campaigned on absent in the actual budget numbers.
“It’s still kind of pitiful but still it was a signal of the first tentative step by a government to get more into the business of subsidizing low-income households. And I hope they really deliver on that. I’d be terribly disappointed if they don’t.”
Gabrielle Loren, president of the West Vancouver Chamber of Commerce, estimated about 99 per cent of chamber members will benefit from the small business tax cut. The increase in corporate rates will likely affect some West Vancouver-based developers and a handful of really large businesses like Park Royal or Cypress Mountain.
The drop in small business taxes will be greatly appreciated, Loren said but if the federal government goes ahead with tax reform plans currently on the table, any gains offered by the province could be wiped out “to the point that you’re probably looking at an effective tax rate of close to 72 per cent,” she said.
“It’s great that the provincial government dropped the corporate tax rate for small businesses but if the federal government’s proposals go through, we’re all going to be hooped,” she said.
The personal income tax bump for those earning more than $150,000 will likely affect a lot of North Shore residents, Loren pointed out. Again, combined with an increase in top-bracket taxes from the federal government, it’s tough to swallow, she said.
“If anyone makes over $202,000 in income, and I think a lot of our constituents do, they’re going to be looking at 49.8 per cent tax. I’m sorry, but that is just way too much,” she said. “I don’t know if we’re going to be able to keep them all. They won’t stay here if they’re paying that much tax.”
Liz Barnett, executive director of the North Shore Disability Resource Centre Association, welcomed the $100 increase in payments to persons with disabilities as well as the creation of a ministry for social development and poverty reduction. “I think that really signals they’re willing to look at some very significant social issues that people with disabilities are overrepresented in,” she said.
In practical terms, the $100 per month increase in disability payments can ease a great deal of stress, Barnett added.
“People are choosing to cut back on their meds. … I’m hoping that people will be able to feel they can eat food – that they don’t have to choose between hydro and groceries. That really is what’s happening. It’s not an inflated claim. We deal with this every day.”
