Tax holiday proposed to help jumpstart

Ben Stewart, MLA for Kelowna-West, talked about the B.C. Liberal Party’s suggestion of a tax holiday as he spoke to members of the Greater Westside Board of Trade about local businesses re-opening during an online Business after Hours May 14.

Stewart has been hearing from mostly personal services and other businesses that have been impacted dramatically by the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Every day the phones are ringing, emails are coming in and frankly it’s just impossible to get some answers on so many different things,” he said. “There are new ideas coming out every day about what the new norm is going to be.”

As part of the second phase of B.C.’s restart in mid-May, health services will be restored as well as medically related services including physiotherapy and chiropractors, retail, personal services such as hair salons, in-person counselling, restaurants, cafés and pubs, ofÀce-based work site and child care.

If transmission rates remain low, hotels and resorts can reopen with enhanced protocols in June, the Àlm industry can restart and entertainment like movies can reopen in July.

Large gatherings, such as concerts, are conditional on wide vaccination, community immunity or broad successful treatments.

Stewart said B.C. Liberal Leader Andrew Wilkinson sent a letter May 5 to Premier John Horgan that included suggestions on how to jumpstart the economy, including a 60 to 90-day holiday on provincial sales tax, the hotel tax and employer health tax, a short-term rent relief plan and an increase in the tourism marketing budget to attract visitors when it is safe to do so.

Stewart said there needs to be something to help businesses restart and a tax holiday has some beneÀts, not just for the employer but for retailers with items on sale by 7% and another 5% if the federal government did it as well.

“Although none of that’s been accepted or adopted I understand that the Ànance ministry is looking at some of the tax holidays that we’ve put forward,” said Stewart.

On the Áip side, Stewart said the money the federal government is putting out expected be extended.

“I think it’s safe to say the GST will not stay at 5%,” he said, noting the consumer tax is probably the fairest tax

“I think there’s going to have to be a way to Àgure out how to capture some of the revenues back, and it’s not going to come from income tax, it’s going to come from something that’s going to be on goods and services,” he said.