B.C. government looking at payroll tax supports as charities, non-profits struggle

The B.C. government is considering providing addition support for groups expected to be hit hard by the contentious payroll tax.

Finance Minister Carole James says the province is looking at other jurisdictions to see how to avoid punishing not-for-profits and charities.

“We are taking a look at what other provinces have done. Some provinces have made a differential when it comes to the threshold to when they begin paying so they make sure charities aren’t using a lot of their donations to have to pay,” said James.

“Different provinces have handled it differently, so we are looking at both not-for-profits and charities.”

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James has been having ongoing discussions with different groups about the impact of the tax. One of the organizations that is concerned about the increased cost of the payroll tax is the Delta Gymnastics Society.

The club spends 90 per cent of its costs on staff, which includes specially trained instructors. The budget is extremely tight and the head of the society, Ana Arciniega, estimates the new tax could add an extra $26,000 to $30,000 to the bottom line every year.

“Our budget has already been set and we are trying to absorb it, but our budget is very, very narrow,” said Arciniega. “We don’t have a lot of room to spare, so we would have to get really creative if this goes through.”

The BC NDP cut MSP premiums in half effective this past January, and will eliminate them entirely in 2020. The province is putting a health payroll tax in place on Jan. 1, 2019 to pay for the lost revenues.

MSP will be gone on Jan. 1, 2020.

READ MORE: B.C. Government ignores advice from MSP task force, brings in payroll tax

Businesses with payrolls of more than $1.5 million will pay a tax rate of 1.95 per cent on their total payrolls.

Any businesses with payrolls between $500,000 and $1.5 million will pay a reduced rate, and those with payrolls below $500,000 will not pay the tax.

Arcieniega says she doesn’t want to have to increase the fees charged to parents or cut services. Instead she is encouraging the government to explore other ways to implement the tax.

The YMCA/YWCAs across the province are also grappling with the payroll tax. The Vancouver Island YMCA has not yet measured what the impact will be, but it is especially concerned about the impact the tax could have on the services it provides.

“We would have to wait but there is still a lot of information we don’t have to understand the true impact,” said YMCA-YWCA Vancouver Island chairperson Jennie Edgecombe.