BC Ferries: Giving away $1mil in bonuses to employees

[matai]

Yeah, they get the money to pay for their prgrams from magical money trees.
Goodness gracious. What percentage of the population is naive about how governments fund programs?

This is exactly what I said dude. Quebec pays more "direct" income tax to pay for these programs. BC is simply charging 50 different taxes, which makes it one of the most, if not the most, taxed province in the country. Same as $2 = $1 + $1

[Rwede]

BC is one of the lowest-taxed provinces in Canada. Try again.

[matai]

BC is one of the lowest-taxed provinces in Canada. Try again.

On this chart BC ranks 2nd most expensive and taxed province to live in just after Ontario for a single person, and 1st for a single person with a kid, and first for a family, and first for 2 salaries, and 1st for the cost of living

http://www.economicdevelopmentwinnipeg. ... tables.pdf

[Rwede]

Haha, maybe try to get an empirical source rather than an advertisement from someone wanting you to come to their city!

I still wonder why you're here and not back in Quebec if Quebec is so great?

[danmartin]

BC is one of the lowest-taxed provinces in Canada. Try again.

I keep seeing this and it was used over and over again during the last provincial election. The BC Liberals lowered income tax rates but at the same time raised user fees on numerous other items. Example is MSP premiums that have gone from $10/month to $66/month in BC since the liberals took power.

[matai]

I still wonder why you're here and not back in Quebec if Quebec is so great?

Where did I say Quebec was great?
Also, if someone finds gas is expensive in BC, should they move to Alberta?
Should someone move to the US if they say Medicare is expensive in BC?
Maybe people who thinks there's traffic in Kelowna should move to Saskatchewan?
All the French speakers, move back to France! This is a british colony!
Or maybe everyone who's against one of harper's policy could move to Mexico...
Should we move to Yukon if we get sunburns easily?
Or what's about Jamaica if we don't like snow?

Easy to tell someone to move, but it doesn't fix the problem, which is BC Ferries pays it's corporate direction too much compared to comparables in Washington and Quebec. And it's not because something is "as such" that it's acceptable.

Back on topic now :-)

[Rwede]

I keep seeing this and it was used over and over again during the last provincial election. The BC Liberals lowered income tax rates but at the same time raised user fees on numerous other items. Example is MSP premiums that have gone from $10/month to $66/month in BC since the liberals took power.

They weren't $10 per month but they were lower than they are now.

Compare that to the massive reduction of your income taxes and you are miles ahead - and that's before your weekly wage skyrocketed under the Liberals after remaining in dead last place in Canada under the NDP.

Maybe MSP should be a payroll deduction - then people wouldn't pay attention to it, as it appears most are completely ignorant about the impact of huge reductions in their income tax deductions under the BC Libs. People cry like hungry babies when they pay a 5¢ deposit on a pop tin, but say nothing when they pocket $4,000 more in take home pay a year due to tax reductions.

[GrooveTunes]

They weren't $10 per month but they were lower than they are now.

Compare that to the massive reduction of your income taxes and you are miles ahead - and that's before your weekly wage skyrocketed under the Liberals after remaining in dead last place in Canada under the NDP.

Maybe MSP should be a payroll deduction - then people wouldn't pay attention to it, as it appears most are completely ignorant about the impact of huge reductions in their income tax deductions under the BC Libs. People cry like hungry babies when they pay a 5¢ deposit on a pop tin, but say nothing when they pocket $4,000 more in take home pay a year due to tax reductions.[/quote]

The only wages that skyrocketed are the ones making over 40000 a year. Nice try.

http://www.taxtips.ca/bctax/taxcomparison2011.htm

[danmartin]

MSP premiums have increased more then 80% since 2001. Also if you make $30 000 you would pay the same as someone earning much more and this holds true for all user fees the liberals have introduced in effect hurting the middle class and poor and benefitting the wealthy. All other provinces except Ont. don't charge and there it is much smaller. Payments come from general revenue ( income tax) where theoretically the wealthy pay a larger share.

[Rwede]

MSP premiums have increased more then 80% since 2001. Also if you make $30 000 you would pay the same as someone earning much more and this holds true for all user fees the liberals have introduced in effect hurting the middle class and poor and benefitting the wealthy. All other provinces except Ont. don't charge and there it is much smaller. Payments come from general revenue ( income tax) where theoretically the wealthy pay a larger share.

You might want to check what "premium assistance" was available under the NDP. It was much, much less. The wealthy in BC already pay huge amounts of tax, 44% of which goes straight into health care. You simply cannot say they aren't "paying their share", as they are paying way more than lower income people.

Furthermore, the NDP taxed the hell out of low income families, whereas the provincial Liberals and federal Conservatives have made low income families basically tax-exempt.

Sure, it's fun to call out the current government, but failing to recognize the huge steps taken to reduce tax and fee burdens on lower income families turns one's argument into pure rhetoric.

Let's not forget, the NDP considered anyone making over $60,000 in the 1990s a "high income earner" and taxed them at the highest rates possible.

Our provincial income tax rate was at 49.5% of the federal rate under the NDP. The BC Liberals have slashed that down to 33%.

The NDP was brutal on low- and mid-income earners. We've come a long way towards reducing the tax and fee burden on people, whether the left wants to admit it or not.

[Merry]

According to this Chart, the taxes we pay in BC relative to other parts of Canada is very much dependent on which tax bracket you are in.
While all are at the "lower" end of the scale, there isn't a single bracket where BC tax is the absolute lowest.

Average tax rate (total taxes payable divided by total employment income)

Employment
Income AB BC MB NB NL NS NT NU ON PE QC SK YT
10,000 -5.7% -6.7% -5.7% -4.8% -4.8% -4.8% -8.3% 1.1% -4.8% -4.8% -15.5% -4.8% -4.8%
20,000 11.6% 11.4% 16.2% 13.1% 14.1% 15.2% 10.4% 7.1% 13.3% 16.4% 14.4% 12.9% 12.5%
30,000 17.7% 19.2% 21.2% 19.6% 19.3% 20.1% 15.3% 13.4% 18.4% 20.9% 22.6% 19.0% 18.0%
40,000 20.8% 21.6% 24.0% 22.6% 22.2% 23.8% 17.8% 16.4% 20.6% 24.0% 26.1% 22.0% 20.3%
50,000 23.5% 23.7% 26.6% 25.6% 25.2% 26.9% 20.6% 18.9% 23.5% 26.8% 29.5% 24.9% 22.9%
60,000 25.0% 24.8% 28.0% 27.3% 26.8% 28.7% 22.2% 20.4% 24.8% 28.4% 31.1% 26.7% 24.4%
80,000 26.8% 26.2% 30.5% 29.4% 28.8% 31.2% 24.3% 22.5% 26.8% 30.8% 33.0% 28.7% 26.2%
100,000 28.3% 28.2% 32.8% 31.3% 30.6% 33.3% 26.8% 24.7% 29.7% 32.9% 35.2% 30.5% 28.2%
175,000 32.3% 34.2% 38.0% 36.4% 35.0% 38.8% 32.8% 30.4% 36.3% 38.5% 41.5% 35.4% 33.4%
600,000 37.0% 40.9% 44.0% 42.5% 40.2% 46.7% 40.1% 37.5% 43.9% 44.8% 47.5% 41.5% 39.8%

As the chart shows, those at the $20,000 level are fourth from lowest, the $30,000 level are sixth from lowest, $40,000 are sixth from lowest, $50,000 are sixth from lowest, $60,000 are fourth from lowest, $80,000 are third from lowest, $100,000 are also third from lowest, $175,000 are fifth from lowest, and $600,000 are seventh from lowest.

Unfortunately the chart isn't posting in a readable form onto Castanet, so it'll be easier if you follow this link and go view it there.

http://www.taxtips.ca/taxrates/taxcompa ... n-2013.htm

[Rwede]

^^^ Take away the northern territories which benefit from lower effective tax rates due to the northern housing allowance incentive tax credit, and BC is the lowest province in Canada for $100,000 and under. In fact, as I stated above, BC is indeed the lowest taxed PROVINCE in Canada for <$100,000 (the northern territories aren't provinces).

[Merry]

^^^ Take away the northern territories which benefit from lower effective tax rates due to the northern housing allowance incentive tax credit, and BC is the lowest province in Canada for $100,000 and under. In fact, as I stated above, BC is indeed the lowest taxed PROVINCE in Canada for <$100,000 (the northern territories aren't provinces).

If you earn anywhere from 30,000 to 50,000 you'd be taxed less if you lived in Ontario.

[Merry]

Here's an article on the topic of how overtaxed we are here in BC
http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/jordan-bat ... 24975.html

Jordan Bateman
British Columbia Director, Canadian Taxpayers Federation
'Truth' From Gordon Campbell's Ex-Aide Comes Too Late

They say dead men tell no lies. That may never be truer than in the cutthroat blood-sport of B.C. politics.
Consider Martyn Brown, the former chief of staff for Gordon Campbell and chief architect of the B.C. Liberals' decade in power. He's no longer in politics and suddenly feels very free to tell the truth about the B.C. government.
In his e-book, Towards a New Government in British Columbia, Brown confirms what many taxpayers have been saying for a long time: government is taking more money out of our pockets than ever before. That, despite the fact the B.C. Liberals like to tout that British Columbians pay the lowest income taxes in Canada.
"Every government is using every means at its disposal to avoid visible tax hikes and to hide the ones they are imposing as far as possible. That does not mean that governments are not raising taxes," wrote Brown.
"Governments everywhere are raising fees, licenses, premiums, penalties, levies, utility rates, tolls and other hidden forms of taxes. They are charging new fees for services, they are extracting new and higher hidden taxes from Crown corporations. And they are deferring tax burdens to future generations through debt, deferral accounts and public-private partnerships."
You're preaching to the choir, Mr. Brown.

In the past three years, B.C. families have suffered from a 24 per cent jump in the Medical Services Premium health care tax, a so-called "user fee" which has no tangible link to your use of the health care system. Thanks to exploding home values, the property transfer tax sucks three times more out of B.C. pockets today than it did in 2001.
The ICBC monopoly took 11.2 per cent more in basic insurance costs this year, while its executive payroll bloated 70 per cent and added 272 new managers in four years. BC Hydro rates are going up 17 per cent over three years, although the B.C. government cut the original proposed increase in half. B.C. Ferries fares are now so high that ridership has plunged and losses mount.

Lower Mainland drivers pay almost 50 cents per litre in gas tax, yet are still on the hook for $3 tolls on the Golden Ears and Port Mann bridges. To heat your home with the natural gas Premier Christy Clark has now deemed "clean," you pay $1.49/GJ in carbon tax. The natural gas itself only costs $2.97/GJ.

No wonder so many B.C. taxpayers are struggling to make ends meet. That 2001 Gordon Campbell 25 per cent income tax cut feels like a long time ago, doesn't it?
"Governments are not being fully honest or transparent about the tax burdens they are imposing," added Brown. Some of this burden is the fault of Ottawa, TransLink, regional districts or your local city hall, but that's cold comfort: there's dozens of government agencies--and only one taxpayer.

Before taxpayers get too excited about this sudden burst of candor, we should bear in mind that Brown left government last year with a severance payout of $416,191--more than six times the income of the average British Columbian household.
That payout came after he was transferred by his old boss, Premier Gordon Campbell, to the supposedly "professional, non-partisan" public service, becoming deputy minister of tourism, trade and investment in 2010.
It would have been nice if Brown's concern for taxpayers had surfaced while he was still in the premier's office.
While it's too late for him, hopefully prospective MLAs and their political strategists, whether B.C. Liberal, NDP, Conservative, Green or Independent, will take a step back and put the needs of cash-strapped taxpayers first in their 2013 election platforms.

Heaven knows we need the help.

[Smurf]

Boy Merry things got awful quiet after that post. It is no secret that we are taxed to death by fees, hidden fees, carbon tax, you name it. What amazes me is the number of people who keep trying to deny it. Are they really that out of touch or just prefer to be blind to it. Carbon tax alone brings us up a lot compared to the other provinces along with the fact it raises the price of almost everything we buy including ferry rides.

Back to topic. These executive are already overpaid. The bonuses are just a slap in the face to every taxpayer in BC who already subsidize the ferries. The government should cut off all funds until this is stopped. We apparently can't stop them from paying them but we can refuse to support it.