BC provincial budget does little to support manufacturing

“The budget contains very little to support manufacturers in British Columbia,” said Andrew Wynn-Williams, Divisional VP for BC of Canadian Manufacturers & Exporters (CME). “It fully implements tax increases without much in relief or support in other areas.”

“Although there are no new tax increases, those announced previously take full effect this year and will act as a significant drag on the industry,” said Mr. Wynn-Williams. “These include the $1.85 billion employer health tax and a total of $1.71 in carbon taxes. Unfortunately, there is not much to counteract this rise in taxation and it will put increased pressure on our export-based manufacturing industry.”

“CME is particularly concerned that so little of the $5.8 billion collected in carbon taxes over the next three years is coming back to the industry. Currently, only $168 million of that is targeted at industrial relief and all of that is for the large emitters like natural gas production and pulp and paper mills,” explained the CME Vice President. “As it stands there is no Clean BC programming to support the light manufacturing industry that is such a large part of our export base.”

 CME has noted some positive measures

• The Accelerated Capital Cost Allowance measure mirrors the recent announcement from the federal government and is estimated to save the industry $800 million over three years.
• Increased support for trades training could help ease the skills shortage.