Taxes

Will the BC government ramp up its affordable housing efforts in Budget 2020?

Feb 12, 2020

A lack of affordable housing continues to be a top issue in Metro Vancouver and more broadly in BC. Since 2016, and in particular the 2018 BC Budget, we have seen some important tax policy changes from the provincial government in response to skyrocketing home prices. These new taxes primarily focus on wealthier homeowners by… View Article

Lessons from the Squamish Nation’s ambitious new rental housing plan

Feb 6, 2020

By Alex Hemingway

As we face a severe housing crisis in Vancouver, the Squamish Nation is poised to add 6,000 new homes—mostly market rental housing—to its 11 acre reserve lands in Kitsilano. This will create a major new ongoing revenue stream for the Nation, while providing rental homes to help ease Vancouver’s ultra-low vacancy rates. The Sen̓áḵw project… View Article

A surplus at all costs? Balanced budget fixation hurts BC

Jan 20, 2020

By Alex Hemingway

Almost every year at budget time, BC governments of all stripes predict public coffers are going to be worse off than they’re likely truly expecting. This habit is usually portrayed as harmless or even prudent, but when the budget room available to us is systematically underestimated, it distorts the scope of public debate. Budget lowballing… View Article

Happy new year—no more MSP!

Jan 6, 2020

By Alex Hemingway

It’s a brand new year, and BC’s Medical Services Plan (MSP) premiums are no more. That’s great news because MSP premiums were a very unfair tax (or “regressive” as we economists like to say). In its first budget (in 2018), the current provincial government announced it would phase out MSP premiums by 2020 and has… View Article

Eliminate and replace it: A better way to reform the basic personal tax amount

Dec 10, 2019

By Alex Hemingway

The new federal Liberal minority government has signalled that a tax cut will be its first order of policy business. That’s a shame because this tax cut will do little for those with low incomes while providing the most benefit to higher income households—and there are better ways to benefit Canadians who need the help…. View Article

Property taxes in Vancouver are still too low, fueling inequality and speculation

Dec 2, 2019

By Alex Hemingway

We’ve heard a lot of griping recently about Vancouver’s proposed property tax increase for 2020, but missing from the debate is a reality check on the city’s extremely low tax rates. Vancouver’s property tax rate is, in fact, the lowest in North America, at just $2.56 per $1,000 in assessed value—or 0.26%. Why is Vancouver’s… View Article

Who owns it? The democratic socialist debate Canada should be having this election

Aug 19, 2019

By Alex Hemingway

We live in an era of extreme inequality of wealth and power across much of the developed world, and Canada is no exception. Public confidence in political institutions and “political classes” in the West is in long-running decline. The failure of established institutions to grapple adequately with the crises we face is giving way to an… View Article

BC’s LNG tax breaks and subsidies offside with the need for climate action

May 9, 2019

By Marc Lee

The BC government’s new fiscal framework for LNG is fundamentally at odds with the province’s CleanBC climate plan. Details in the government agreement with LNG Canada show that BC is subsidizing fossil fuel production at a time when we need to keep it in the ground. The BC government made four major concessions in the… View Article

Turn off the taps? Alberta already has Vancouver over a barrel

Apr 29, 2019

By Marc Lee

Drivers in Metro Vancouver are reeling from record high gas prices, and many commentators are blaming taxes. Now, Alberta’s Premier-elect Jason Kenney is threatening to “turn off the taps” to push prices even higher because, it is alleged, BC is causing them to lose billions of dollars in oil revenues by opposing the Trans Mountain… View Article

Reality check: Only BC’s very richest paying higher tax rate

Mar 25, 2019

By Alex Hemingway

Under personal tax changes announced by the BC government over the past year and a half—including elimination of Medical Services Plan (MSP) premiums—the vast majority of households are seeing their tax bills fall, while the richest 1% are paying more. This is good news for tax fairness in BC. In a fair system, we pay… View Article

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A progressive take on BC issues

A progressive take on BC issues

Taxes

Will the BC government ramp up its affordable housing efforts in Budget 2020?

Lessons from the Squamish Nation’s ambitious new rental housing plan

A surplus at all costs? Balanced budget fixation hurts BC

Happy new year—no more MSP!

Eliminate and replace it: A better way to reform the basic personal tax amount

Property taxes in Vancouver are still too low, fueling inequality and speculation

Who owns it? The democratic socialist debate Canada should be having this election

BC’s LNG tax breaks and subsidies offside with the need for climate action

Turn off the taps? Alberta already has Vancouver over a barrel

Reality check: Only BC’s very richest paying higher tax rate