The president of the South Surrey and White Rock Chamber of Commerce says local businesses may not be enthusiastic supporters of the provincial government’s tight-fisted budget, but they do agree with it.
Gary Hollick was reacting to the restraint budget unveiled by BC Liberal Finance Minister Kevin Falcon Tuesday afternoon in Victoria.
In a bid to balance the provincial budget by 2013, Falcon, MLA for Surrey-Cloverdale, has tightened spending, postponed a previously promised tax break for small business and warned the government may hike corporate taxes.
Falcon also announced health care premiums will rise and announced plans to privatize liquor distribution and sell off so-called surplus land.
First-time new-home buyers will be eligible for a tax break of up to $10,000 and seniors can get a tax break of up to $1,000 to renovate their homes.
Hollick said most chamber members he spoke with view the budget as “lacklustre”, which is preferable to a more “flamboyant” approach that could cost the province its credit rating.
“I think they were very responsible,” Hollick told Peace Arch News.
Chamber executive director Cliff Annable said most local business people are not happy about the decision to keep the 2.5 per cent small business tax the Liberals had promised to eliminate, but they understand the situation the government is in.
“Someone’s got to pay the bills … if we want to have our education and health care,” Annable said.
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BCDailyBuzz – "BC Budget released in Victoria" (Feb. 21, 2012)
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The Surrey Board of Trade was more critical, saying the government was irresponsible to take $70 million away from advanced education.
Board of Trade CEO Anita Huberman said the fiscally conservative direction is responsible, but cutting higher learning is “not acceptable.”
NDP finance critic Bruce Ralston called Falcon’s target of two per cent spending growth for three years “unrealistic,” and said it was a political gesture motivated by two looming by-elections this year and a full general election next year.
Ralston (Surrey-Whalley) scoffed at the proposal to increase the general corporate income tax rate by a point, but not until April 2014 and only if the government still needs the money by then.
“I don’t think they have any real intention of using that kind of taxation to meet the real revenue needs of the province,” Ralston said.
Ralston also questioned the move to sell surplus provincial land, citing Falcon’s example of a Surrey property purchased 15 years ago as a potential hospital site.
The property on Number 10 Highway has seen residential and commercial development grow up around it, and it’s being liquidated to raise money.
Surrey may well need a hospital site in 15 to 20 years in addition to the expansion underway at Surrey Memorial Hospital, and acquiring another one will be much more expensive, Ralston said.
The Council of Senior Citizens’ Organizations of B.C. (COSCO) called the budget “a major disappointment” for seniors that earmarks an inadequate $15 million for non-medical home support
“It is sad that the B.C. government has again proved itself to be penny wise and dollar foolish,” COSCO president Art Kube said.
- with files from Tom Fletcher & Kevin Diakiw