The B.C. Provincial Budget, 2013/14 through 2017/18

[Donald G]

To NAB ...

Look up "Tax Freedom Day" on the internet. You will find that the Fraser Institute publishes a yearly figure that identifies the end of May as being Canadas Tax Free Day. Estimates for other countries around the world are also given. The Osgood Foundation however identifies Canadas Tax Free day as being two months later than that identified by the Fraser Institute because, according to them, the Fraser institute does not include all indirect taxes in their compilation. That would make it the end of July, as noted in my previous comments.

When it comes to discussing a Provincial budget I do not think anyone can eliminate politics from the various announcements (by gov and opposition) used by the public to try to determine the state of the budget until the end of the fiscal year and the audit.

[NAB]

"Osgood Foundation"? LOL. Hardly a recognized authority on tax freedom day. Canada's (and BC's) tax freedom days as published by the Fraser Institute varies from year to year, and even the Tax foundation in the US (who determines "tax freedom days" there) references the Fraser date when referencing other countries.

Anyway, it is hardly relevant to the topic at hand, nor is you trying to politicize the thread. The election is over and we have a majority government which is solely responsible for BC's audited budgetary performance for at least the next 5 years.

Nab

[Donald G]

To NAB ...

A number of your earlier comments would certainly speak strongly against your present allegation that you neither had nor have any desire to "politicize" budget issues in this string ... to the point of identifying the premier by name.

"I come to praise (anyone but Christy); not to (try to) bury her"

Where do you find your best estimate of the TOTAL percentage of dollars that go toward one form of taxation or another in one form or another ... if not the Fraser Institute?

[NAB]

Where do you find your best estimate of the TOTAL percentage of dollars that go toward one form of taxation or another in one form or another ... if not the Fraser Institute?

Who cares? This thread is specifically about the BC provincial budget and the government who now has the responsibility for both developing it .......and meeting it. But I must say I do understand where the confusion comes from,

Nab

[Donald G]

To NAB ...

I see YOU have used the Fraser Institute estimation chart for people to use as a means of estimating their Canadian Tax Free Day. Interesting that you did not include the option for people to use the (American) Osgood Foundation two month addition.

What swayed you away from the Osgood information?

[NAB]

The Legislature adjourned yesterday following it's short summer session to pass this year's budget which wasn't accomplished before the election (and which as it turns out was outdated already anyway). It was quite interesting to watch some of the debate related to the budgetary estimates - particularly those associated with Ministers Coleman and Lake.

Christy Clark didn't participate of course since her by-election win wasn't confirmed until yesterday and she is away at the Premiers Conference (which in itself is producing some interesting deliberations and decisions... particularly in the areas of jobs and jobs training and health care (and related funding) which could produce some significant difficulties with respect to the provincial strategic plan and the next provincial budget.

According to Mike de Jong no decision has yet been made as to whether the government will follow the legislative calendar and hold a fall legislative session in October, or whether they will stand down until early next year when the 2014/15 budget will need serious attention.

I suppose the biggie now is to see what Cabinet comes up with between now and then in their struggles to deliver on their commitment to balance this years budget. I suppose we can expect a concerted effort to find additional sources of revenues, along with further cuts to program and capitol spending.


Nab

[NAB]

To NAB ...

I see YOU have used the Fraser Institute estimation chart for people to use as a means of estimating their Canadian Tax Free Day. Interesting that you did not include the option for people to use the (American) Osgood Foundation two month addition.

What swayed you away from the Osgood information?

You are obviously very confused about what and where Osgood (actually Osgoode) is and what it does, as well as when and who was responsible for the over a decade old argument by one man regarding the two month addition. Much has changed since however. But instead of constantly trying to derail this thread with something totally irrelevant to the topic, why not start a separate thread on your assertion and see where it leads?

Nab

[Donald G]

To NAB ...

(attack removed - fluffy) Do you not think that the taxes paid to a government by citizens is not directly related to that governments budget? (attack removed - fluffy)

[NAB]

That's a question that has both a yes and a no answer. Something along the lines of whether the horse belongs in front of or behind the cart... or which came first - the chicken or the egg? ;-)

Nab

[NAB]

These "terms of reference" look to me like the promised core review of government spending is just going to just be more typical spin and bluster, ......lots of talkin' but little walkin'.

Nab

Minister Bill Bennett out to trim public-sector fat.

IAN BAILEY

The Globe and Mail

The B.C. minister charged with cutting costs says he’s declaring war on excessive or overly generous bonus-based management pay in the public sector, and will try to scrap any rewards he deems inappropriate.

Premier Christy Clark ordered the core review in June to look for ways to save money and find efficiencies in government.

Bill Bennett, talking on Wednesday about the terms of reference, said voters expect him to look at public-sector executives and management during the process, which is supposed to wrap up by Dec. 31, 2014.

“One of the things that I am going to be looking for are examples of excessive or unfair bonus-based pay. I hope I don’t find anything but if we do, we’re going to get rid of it,” Mr. Bennett, who is also Energy Minister, told reporters in Vancouver.

Mr. Bennett also left open the possibility of bringing contracted-out services back into government or outsourcing more government services.

“I’ve decided I don’t want to put any sort of ideological or political lens on this exercise so if there were some service to the public that was being provided [privately] that could be provided more efficiently to the taxpayer by bringing it back inside government, we definitely would consider that, but we’ll also consider the reverse.”

David Vipond, negotiations director for the B.C. Government and Service Employees’ Union, said his organization is as interested in efficiency as the government, and would make the case for bringing services back into government.

Mr. Bennett was responding to a question from Mr. Vipond, standing among reporters, about the issue when he talked about services.

Mr. Bennett is under orders to trim $50-million per fiscal year out of about $44-billion in government spending, but argued the mission is more about incubating new ideas for efficient government than hacking away dollars.

For one thing, he said the Liberals did a more sweeping core review after coming to office in 2001 that has left little to cut.

“We’ve been 12 years already reviewing Crown corporations, reviewing ministry expenditures and ministry programs. I know, as a minister, I’ve had seven different portfolios and in probably every single one, I’ve been told I need to find 10 per cent or 20 per cent or 30 per cent,” he said.

“We’ve gone through that process for several years. I am not expecting to find a lot of dollars to cut.”

He added: “I think it’s actually wiser for us to focus on doing things better and smarter than it is to try and find low-hanging fruit and fat.”

Specifically, Mr. Bennett’s orders include assessing government responsibilities and eliminating programs that could be provided effectively at less cost through alternative service delivery as well as ensuring public-sector management wage levels are appropriate.

There are some boundaries around services for vulnerable British Columbians. “The Core Review process will not make recommendations on those services provided to the most vulnerable of citizens except to the extent that they are not achieving intended results,” said a ministry statement.

Shane Simpson, the B.C. NDP critic for core review, said such commitments did not protect residents of the province back in 2001 and the government should list vulnerable groups now to make the promise more relevant.

He also said the government needs to be clearer about how citizens and community groups can participate in the process.

Over all, Mr. Simpson said the terms laid out Wednesday are too vague and that the detailed program due by the end of August would be more relevant to discussion.

By the end of the summer, a cabinet working group is supposed to approve a plan for consulting those affected by the cuts.

[Rwede]

Not sure where the ToR are in the article, but I do know where the sore loser NDPers are on Castanet.

I know Bill personally and am very confident in his abilities to do a thorough, fair review of government services to find savings and efficiencies.

Contrast that with the NDP's desire to bloat the public sector union ranks back to unsustainable levels, and I know which one as a taxpayer I'd rather pay for.

[NAB]

It appears that Bennett is a bit of a bully in his own right.... funny him calling Campbell one.... anyway, quite interesting he has put BC Hydro and the ALR Commission on notice now.

"Vaughn Palmer: Mercurial Bill Bennett trusted by Christy Clark after being spurned by ex-premier Gordon Campbell"


""VICTORIA — When Premier Christy Clark established a new cabinet lineup after the election, one of the top portfolios went to Bill Bennett, completing the B.C. Liberal MLA’s remarkable comeback in the ranks of the governing party.

Bennett was given responsibility for energy, mines and BC Hydro, at a time when all three were front-and-centre in the Liberal strategy for job creation and economic growth.

True to his independent-minded reputation, Bennett lost no time putting Hydro on notice that his support should not to be taken for granted.

“BC Hydro is an entity that has become so large and so complex, and frankly I think we (government) have come to depend on its dividends so heavily that we have perhaps not held their feet to the fire as much as we should,” he told reporters. “I consider it my job as energy minister to start working closely with them and, when I have to, I’m going to read them the riot act.”

He blasted Hydro for the huge cost overrun on construction of the Northwest Transmission Line: “Our government does not support this way of managing capital projects, and we will get to the bottom of it.”

He also executed a partial about-face on the smart meter project, announcing that folks who don’t want them can stick with the old meters until they wear out, providing they pay for in-person inspections.

He’s since made another of those discoveries that are common for politicians who presume to manage the government-owned utility. After referring to Hydro’s ongoing $1.2-billion seismic upgrade at the John Hart dam as if the cost included refurbishing the dam itself, Bennett learned that, no, it only covers the generating station. Earthquake-proofing the dam is a separate project, not yet costed, but probably entailing another $1 billion.

While Bennett climbs the learning curve with Hydro, he was back in the news this week on another key assignment from the premier. Clark also made him responsible for the core review, 18-month cost-control exercise that aims to establish what programs and services should and should not remain in government.

“Nothing is off the table,” he told reporters Wednesday as he released the terms of reference for the review. Then underscoring that nothing would be “sacrosanct,” he announced that the review would be taking a close look at “the Agricultural Land Reserve and Agricultural Land Commission.”

He got a head start on that on Monday of this week by escorting new Agriculture Minister Pat Pimm on a tour of his (Bennett’s) Kootenay East riding with the land reserve and its overseer commission as the prime topics for discussion.

“That was the main reason I invited him — to focus on that,” Bennett told reporter Sally Macdonald of the Cranbrook Daily Townsman. “I’ve been very frustrated with the way the Agricultural Land Commission operates.

“People who are sitting on a piece of land that is covered by rocks and trees, land that never should have been inside the Agricultural Land Reserve boundaries in the first place, are constantly being turned down when they want to use their own private land — land that they purchased — for purposes of maybe a small subdivision, or maybe they want to put a small campground on it, and they’ve been flummoxed by the land commission for years. “


The guy does not shun controversy. Indeed, that would seem to be part of his appeal in his riding, which he won for the fourth time in a row in May with more than 64 per cent of the vote — third largest margin for any Liberal in B.C.

It doesn’t hurt to be somebody who people know will say what he thinks, as opposed to what he thinks people want to hear,” Bennett told me during a recent interview on Voice of B.C. on Shaw TV. “ I do try to do that — and I think people recognize that, not just in the riding but elsewhere.”

He’s climbed a long way since being ousted from cabinet in November 2010 for publicly breaking with Gordon Campbell during his dying days as premier. Bennett compounded the breach with his colleagues with a legendary media scrum where he denounced Campbell — who’d dumped him from cabinet for writing abusive emails on an earlier occasion — as a controlling bully, who once spat in his face. (“Gob or spray?” asked reporter Dirk Meissner of Canadian Press, in a question for the ages).

Even after all that, Bennett stuck with the Liberals. “I could have gone to the B.C. Conservatives or could have got elected as an Independent in my riding,” he assured me. “When Christy Clark was elected (leader), I told her that if she would give me an opportunity, she would not regret it.”

Clark proved to be a forgiving leader, leastways with an MLA who’d attacked her predecessor. She’s been less generous with Moira Stilwell, the radiologist MLA for Vancouver-Langara who remains consigned to the most remote corner of the backbench — apparently for voicing one too many criticisms of Clark’s leadership.

Still, Bennett’s elevation to the cabinet’s top rank does suggest that Clark is less inclined than was Campbell to keep the mercurial Bennett on a short leash. We’ll see soon enough if the trust was warranted or whether he’s merely at the latest peak in the roller-coaster ride that has been his career in politics.""

[Donald G]

I think that given the many obviously NDP comments on this string it should have been more correctly titled;

"The B.C. Provincial Budget, 2013/14 through 2017/18 as hoped and foretold from an NDP perspective" OR

NDP Adage; "It is better that the Liberals fail and the people suffer than that the Liberals succeed and the Province Prosper"

[NAB]

Looks like John Winter likes the core review ToR language and its potential impact on the budgeting process next year. Probably sees some private sector opportunities arising out of it.

""Vancouver, July 31, 2013 –The BC Chamber of Commerce commends the B.C. government for advancing plans for a Core Review, which targets greater efficiency and accountability in government’s use of taxpayers’ dollars.

“We think a Core Review with this mandate and scope promises substantive gains for B.C.’s taxpayers,” said John Winter, the BC Chamber’s president and CEO. “This initiative is great news for British Columbians and aligns directly with what our 36,000 represented B.C. businesses have been calling for.”

Winter said that some of the best news coming out of the government’s just-released terms of reference for the Core Review includes:
•the broad scope of the initiative, which includes B.C. ministries, boards, commissions, Crown agencies, schools, universities, colleges and hospitals; and
•an emphasis on finding alternative, more cost-efficient service delivery models.

“We’re very pleased to see that the government is truly trying to put its house in order, including tackling areas of public concern such as B.C.’s Crown corporations,” Winter said. “We also commend the government for emphasizing alternate service delivery models, which could bring private-sector efficiency to some government operations.”

The BC Chamber also applauded the B.C. government’s plans to refine the ideas that emerge from the Core Review through consultations with industry and other stakeholders.

“All in all, we’re extremely pleased to see how this initiative is advancing and we look forward to helping find private-sector solutions to some of B.C.’s challenges,” Winter said.

The BC Chamber is the largest and most broadly-based business organization in the province. Representing more than 125 Chambers of Commerce and 36,000 businesses of every size, sector and region of the province, the BC Chamber of Commerce is “The Voice of Business in BC.”"



Nab

[NAB]

""The June update included the following new tax measures or clarifications since the February budget:

Notwithstanding the temporary increase in the top provincial personal income tax rate from 14.70 per cent to 16.80 per cent for the 2014 and 2015 tax years, the tax credit rate on donations over the $200 threshold will be maintained at 14.70 per cent.

The update clarifies the provincial sales tax transitional rules for certain taxable services.

As announced in February, there is an exemption from carbon tax provided to farmers for purchases of coloured gasoline or diesel fuel. This exemption is effective January 1, 2014.

The following is a summary of the tax highlights previously announced and subsequently confirmed in this budget update:

The general corporate income tax rate is increased to 11 per cent from the current 10 per cent, effective April 1, 2013, a year earlier than previously announced.

A two-year increase in the personal income tax rate for individuals earning more than $150,000 is introduced. Rates will increase by 2.1 percentage points to 16.8 per cent, starting January 1, 2014 and expiring December 31, 2015.

A new BC Early Childhood Tax Benefit is introduced. Effective April 1, 2015, families with young children will receive up to $55 per child per month.

For children born in 2007 or later, a one-time $1,200 BC Training and Education Savings Grant is provided. To obtain the grant, a family must open an RESP account and apply for the grant before the child turns seven years old.

Taxes on cigarettes are further increased by $2 per carton, effective October 1, 2013.

A 3% minimum royalty for all natural gas wells that qualify for the Deep Well Royalty Credit Program is introduced.""