Close X
Friday, November 15, 2024
ADVT 
National

Auditor General Says B.C. Needs To Know More About Tax Breaks It Gives

The Canadian Press, 10 Oct, 2018 11:13 AM
    VICTORIA — British Columbia's auditor general says politicians need to pay more attention to the billions of dollars they provide every year in tax breaks to support government programs and policies.
     
     
    Carol Bellringer said Tuesday in a report that the breaks in the form of tax expenditures can continue on for decades without oversight on either their effectiveness or if they're still required.
     
     
    She said the government's reporting of tax expenditures and how they relate to spending has been largely unchanged for the past 25 years.
     
     
    B.C. government tax breaks were estimated at $7 billion in the 2016-2017 budget year, the report says. The government's direct spending total in the budget for programs such as health care and education was $48.7 billion.
     
     
    "Tax expenditures are a significant component of government fiscal plans but legislators may not have all the information they need to determine whether tax expenditures continue to achieve government's policy objectives," Bellringer said in a telephone news conference.
     
     
    She said the tax breaks give support to government social, economic and environmental policy objectives but providing those benefits comes at a cost of lost revenues.
     
     
    "Essentially, a tax expenditure is forgone revenue," Bellringer said. "It's money government doesn't collect from taxpayers, but could if it didn't offer the tax breaks. Tax exemptions, allowances, rate reductions, deferrals and credits are all types of tax expenditures."
     
     
    She said the government decided not to charge provincial sales tax on the purchase of new bicycles to help meet its environmental goals, but that means it gives up about $23 million in taxes every year.
     
     
    Bellringer said B.C.'s homeowner grant — introduced in 1957 to relieve the pressure of rising property taxes and encourage home construction — is a decades-old tax expenditure that has undergone few changes or reviews since its introduction.
     
     
    "It may no longer be effective in supporting government's policy objectives," she said.
     
     
    Bellringer pointed to the federal government as an example of a progressive approach to addressing the issue by clearly posting its most recent eight years of tax expenditures.
     
     
    B.C.'s tax expenditures are included in an appendix section of its most recent budget, she noted.
     
     
    "They're accepting it year after year and it rolls forward and continues to be in the program," Bellringer said. "It's important for (politicians) to appreciate when they are voting on the budget for the year that the numbers for program expenses do not include tax expenditures."
     
     
    B.C.'s Ministry of Finance said in a statement Tuesday it is important that politicians and others have access to complete information relating to B.C.’s tax expenditures and it will consider improvements to the reporting of such expenditures.

    MORE National ARTICLES

    Victoria Police Officer Const. Ian Jordan Dies After Lying In A Coma Since 1987

    Victoria Police Officer Const. Ian Jordan Dies After Lying In A Coma Since 1987
    Victoria police Const. Ian Jordan died in hospital Wednesday after spending 30 years in a coma caused by his cruiser crashing into another police vehicle racing towards same call. 

    Victoria Police Officer Const. Ian Jordan Dies After Lying In A Coma Since 1987

    More Than A Dozen Canadians Charged In Global Child Sex Abuse Investigation

    More Than A Dozen Canadians Charged In Global Child Sex Abuse Investigation
    TORONTO — A sweeping global child exploitation investigation has led to more than 150 arrests around the world and either charges or convictions against 16 Canadians, Toronto police said Thursday.

    More Than A Dozen Canadians Charged In Global Child Sex Abuse Investigation

    5 Things To Know About Social And Economic Outcomes Of Immigrants To Canada

    5 Things To Know About Social And Economic Outcomes Of Immigrants To Canada
    The longer an immigrant is in Canada, the better off they are. Annual incomes of highly-skilled workers surpass the Canadian average soon after arrival and increase over time

    5 Things To Know About Social And Economic Outcomes Of Immigrants To Canada

    Police In Abbotsford, B.C., Seek Witnesses To Fatal Head-On Collision

    Police In Abbotsford, B.C., Seek Witnesses To Fatal Head-On Collision
    Officers say a Dodge Charger and Chevrolet Cavalier collided in September 2017 (on Whatcom Road), sending both drivers to hospital.

    Police In Abbotsford, B.C., Seek Witnesses To Fatal Head-On Collision

    B.C. Families Say They're Sidelined From Involvement In Addiction Treatment

    Deb Bailey said her 21-year-old daughter, Ola Bailey, was found dead in the stairwell of a building in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside in 2015, after overdosing on heroin laced with fentanyl.

    B.C. Families Say They're Sidelined From Involvement In Addiction Treatment

    Meeting With PM Won't Force B.C. To Off Its Pipeline Stand: Environment Minister

    Meeting With PM Won't Force B.C. To Off Its Pipeline Stand: Environment Minister
    British Columbia Environment Minister George Heyman says he doesn't expect the province to back down on its battle against the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion during a meeting Sunday with the prime minister and Alberta's premier.

    Meeting With PM Won't Force B.C. To Off Its Pipeline Stand: Environment Minister