2019 brings with it new taxes and tax rates, too
Happy New Year to the tax collectors. Expect to pay more for gas and CPP premiums and maybe property taxes, but less for EI premiums in 2019.
And overall, combined income and payroll taxes are going up next year for all British Columbians earning between $30,000 and $200,000 a year, single or married with kids, except for one low-income category, according to a report by the Canadian Taxpayers Federation.
And a new employer health tax comes into effect on Jan. 1 to replace MSP premiums, so British Columbians who pay for their own Medicare premiums will no longer have to.
Those premiums were cut in half a year ago but they’re still payable until Jan. 1, 2020.
That means employers with payrolls of more than $500,000 will pay for the new Employer Health Tax (EHT) and MSP premiums throughout 2019.
“That’s going to be a huge tax bill for a lot of British Columbian (businesses),” said Kris Sims, the B.C. director of the taxpayers federation. “That’s where the doubledip factor comes into play.”
Vancouver Coastal Health has rescinded a closure order for Mamie Taylor’s restaurant after a rat was allegedly found in a bowl of clam chowder prepared in a commissary kitchen in the building ’s basement.
The kitchen was leased to Crab Park Chowdery, a rustic-style café in Gastown that serves clam chowder and soup in sourdough bread bowls.
On Thursday, a Crab Park Chowdery customer posted an Instagram video showing a dripping rat being pulled from a bread bowl, setting off a storm of negative online reviews.
Vancouver Coastal Health launched an investigation as a result of several complaints, shutting down Mamie Taylor’s and the commissary kitchen in the basement, said spokesperson Carrie Stefanson.
After another inspection Saturday, the restaurant was allowed to reopen, while the commissary kitchen, where there was “evidence of rodent activity,” must remain closed until deficiencies are addressed. Crab Park Chowdery owner Ashton Phillips said he received the goahead from Vancouver Coastal Health to remain open using a mobile food cart kitchen.
Mamie Taylor’s has issued a statement saying it would no longer be leasing the commissary kitchen to other restaurants and has severed all business ties with Crab Park Chowdery.
In a previous statement Mamie Taylor’s owner Ron Oliver said that “while it is true that Crab Park Chowdery makes its soups in that commercial kitchen, we must stress that its operations and kitchen are completely separate from those of Mamie Taylor’s.”
He said the commissary kitchen is on the basement level of Mamie Taylor’s and is not used by his restaurant, which operates out of a kitchen on the main floor.
He said his staff have raised “serious concerns” about the general cleanliness of the commissary in the past.
After the incident, Crab Park Chowdery owner Ashton Phillips said he was trying to understand what had happened. The soup was made in a 50-gallon steam kettle, which has a sealed lid.
He noted that as soon as the soup is made it is “lidded.”
“It’s just impossible that a rat got in there,” he said. “We are baffled.”
Crab Park Chowdery has been allowed to continue operations as well, as long as they no longer prepare their food in the commissary kitchen. They also have a food truck, according to Vancouver Coastal Health.
The Instagram user who posted the video, pisun_ne_ne, has not responded to a request for comment by Postmedia. In her post she writes “I do not force anyone to believe. This is my personal experience that I shared.”
Stefanson said Vancouver Coastal Health inspects restaurants at least once each year, conducting 23,000 inspections annually for about 7,000 restaurants. Staff also respond to complaints.
Inspection reports can be found online, she said, although the inspection reports regarding the leased kitchen used to prepare Crab Park Chowdery food would be found under Mamie Taylor’s listing because it is in that building.
It is not uncommon for restaurants and bakeries to buy or prepare food at another location, with the cleanliness of those premises not necessarily reflected in its inspection reports.