Dear Editor,
It is impossible not to raise taxes when you have a provincial government that instigates this [re Township resident irked by annual tax hikes].
The new NDP minority government has brought in a new health employer tax, effective Jan 1, 2019. This tax is to offset the elimination of B.C. Medical Services premiums. The tax applies to all B.C. employers with a yearly payroll of more than $500,000.
To show the harm done to taxpayers from this tax, I am using the City of Vancouver as a example. Total payroll for the City of Vancouver in 2017 was $499,640,956. Total payments made to B.C. Medical Services was $4,841,035. The new payroll tax is 1.95% of the total payroll. This new tax is $9,742,998 based on 2017 total payroll. This is an increase of $4,901,963 or 101.1%.
The City of Vancouver has no other option except to raise property taxes to cover this added expense.
It once again proves that the NDP did not do their homework on this new tax, once again showing why Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, Nova Scotia, and soon Alberta have said good bye to NDP governments.
The ironey is that Carole James, B.C. minister of finance, over and over says elimination of MSP premiums will be an advantage to B.C. employers.
Nonsense. There was no need for this employer health tax. All that had to be done was to keep the MSP billings as they were and lower the income tax rates.
You can thank the taxpayers who voted for change causing you now to pay more in property taxes.
Joe Sawchuk, Duncan, BC