Premier David Eby has rejected calls for reforming the employer health tax following the release of a report that raised questions about the costs of doing business in British Columbia.
Eby did, however, acknowledge some sectors are struggling, adding his NDP government is working with them.
“It [health care] is paid for with taxes,” Eby said. “This is not a time when we are looking at reducing funding to health care. This is a time when our health-care system needs that continued support from British Columbians, including B.C. businesses.”
The employer health tax replaced what Eby called the “unfair” medical services premium, which he said “increased regularly and penalized regular people.”
Eby made the comments on May 26 in Nanaimo, where he was announcing plans for a cancer care centre.
Some sectors, such as forestry and parts of tourism-hospitality, are struggling.
“We are going to take the actions that are necessary to support those sectors to make sure that they are not alone in this struggle,” Eby said. “The province is working with them to ensure that we are supporting the workers and the businesses in these sectors.”
BC Green Leader Sonia Furstenau repeated calls for reforms to the employer health tax following the release of a report from the Greater Vancouver Board of Trade.
The report, Counting the Costs: Assessing Economic Challenges for Businesses in British Columbia, argues that businesses will have shouldered an additional $6.5 billion in direct costs between 2022 and 2024 because of various governmental policies, including the introduction of the tax in 2019.
The report states the tax paid by employers based on the wages of their employees accounts for almost 62 per cent of the additional costs. Employers with payrolls above $500,000 must pay the tax and the board would like to see government raise that threshold.
This demand echoes earlier calls from the BC Chamber of Commerce — which called on government to raise the threshold to $1.5 million — and Furstenau doubled down on it after the release of the board’s report.
