It’s budget day in B.C. with Finance Minister Katrine Conroy forecasting a $7.9 billion deficit for this upcoming election year.
Budget highlights include an expansion of the BC Family Benefit and a new one-time Electricity Affordability credit for 2024, a beefed-up carbon tax rebate and an exemption on the property transfer tax for first-time homebuyers.
The province is also delivering on a key ask from the business community, by raising the payroll threshold for the Employer Health Tax.
Housing speculators are being targeted with a new house-flipping tax, which will be applied to profit on homes sold within two years of purchase.
And in a surprise move, the province is making one round of in-vitro fertilization treatments free for people looking for help to have a child.
Health spending continues to be the province’s biggest area of spending, comprising more than a third of the operating budget and $1.62 billion in new program spending for 2024.
That includes $34 million per year for the IVF program, $90 million per year for BC’s cancer action plan, and $45 million per year to improve services for community and long-term care for seniors.
“We do have a slowing economy. The global economy is slowing as well, so we are not unique to any jurisdiction,” Conroy said in a sneak peek on Wednesday.
“It is not the right time to make cuts to people, it is not the right time to make cuts to services, it is not the right time to raise taxes.”
The budget comes less than nine months before B.C.’s provincial election.
Conroy said she would not wear new shoes when she tables Thursday’s budget, choosing to break from tradition for the second year in a row by instead putting on a pair of comfortable shoes with a fresh polish.
-with files from Simon Little and The Canadian Press