boost with spending to improve housing, public services and transporta- tion.
The Clark government will continue to impose a 15 percent tax on foreign buyers in Metro Vancouver which it started back in August to combat sky- rocketing prices in that market. This decreased the participation of overseas buyers to between 3 percent to 5 percent of transactions compared with 17 percent before the tax was imposed and the government forecasts $100 million CDN in revenue from the tax this fiscal year. The government also announced an increase in the threshold for first-time buyers to claim an exemption on property transfer taxes by $25,000 CDN to a maximum of $500,000 CDN now. The government did not stop there with tax relief as the province will cut healthcare premiums by half starting January 1 st , for households with annual net income up to $120,000 CND. In the budget for businesses is for a tax on electricity purchases by businesses to be eliminated over the next two years. But, all this does not come without a cost as borrowing by the Clark gov- ernment will rise to $5.8 billion CND in the coming fiscal year, up $2.6 billion from the current year. The provincial debt will rise in the coming fiscal year to $70 billion CND, from $67 billion CND for the year ending March 31. Debt will increase to $73 billion CND by the 2019 fiscal year, according to the government. Program spending is forecast to jump 2.3 percent to $50.2 billion CND from $49.1 billion CND. Government revenue will remain stable at $51 billion CND.
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MARCH 2017 • SPOTLIGHT ON BUSINESS MAGAZINE
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