They are duking it out in the legislature about the NDP’s employer’s health tax.
It was introduced in the most recent budget and will be payable by any employer with a payroll of more than 500,000 dollars and that means many small businesses will have to pay the new tax.
Parksville-Qualicum MLA Michelle Stilwell says while the government claims it’s making life more affordable for families, the owner of Parksville Chrysler says he will be paying an extra 60,000 dollars a year when the payroll tax is fully implemented……
Small businesses say the tax will be a significant disincentive to hiring more employees, it will lead to more contracting out of employees, it penalizes and will deter entrepreneurs from growing their business, and it takes no account of the actual profitability of a business.
The president of the Duncan Cowichan Chamber of Commerce says the increased cost of doing business in our communities, as a result of the recent B.C. budget, is going to make a difference in the living wage.
Julie Scurr says not only are businesses facing increases in the minimum wage, corporate income tax increases and an increase in the carbon tax, 77 thousand businesses with payrolls of over half a million dollars will also now contribute to a new health tax.
Scurr says that will affect affordability for all of us.
