Health tax hits hard ?

[gordon_as]

https://www.castanet.net/news/Kelowna/2 ... tting-hard

Gee , where might a city come up with an extra $250,000 ?

https://www.castanet.net/news/Kelowna/2 ... ty-manager

Nope , let's raise taxes instead.

[gordon_as]

No idea how this thread got double posted.

[CapitalB]

The district is saving $700,000 this year as medical premiums were cut in half, and secretary-treasurer Eileen Sadlowski says a decision will be made later this spring as to how to apply those savings as the district works through its 2018-2019 budget.

I liked this part

[mnprochnau]

It's about time this medical tax was phased out. As a diabetic I need to pay full price for my meds on top of the monthly medical service plan. Something I really cant afford. Perhaps if more employers in this area offered a benefit package. A recent story quoted the medical service plan being millions of dollars in arrears due to non payment by BC residents. Nice to see that not all of us are doe eyed cattle being herded around oblivious to the way here in BC we are getting screwed over paying for essential services. Look at any other province and how they make this sort of program work. BC is the only province making people pay for medical services. As a side note perhaps if the leaders of the organizations in question took a pay cut the whole enterprise would be run a lot cheaper. Like hospital staff, like municipal staff, mayors, councilmen, the chief of police, and everybody down at interior health. As a start. I mean. As of 2020 when this hidden tax is phased out I wonder how many millions the province is going to spend trying to get back the millions it is owed or if they are just going to write it off.

[youjustcomplain]

It's about time this medical tax was phased out. As a diabetic I need to pay full price for my meds on top of the monthly medical service plan. Something I really cant afford. Perhaps if more employers in this area offered a benefit package. A recent story quoted the medical service plan being millions of dollars in arrears due to non payment by BC residents. Nice to see that not all of us are doe eyed cattle being herded around oblivious to the way here in BC we are getting screwed over paying for essential services. Look at any other province and how they make this sort of program work. BC is the only province making people pay for medical services. As a side note perhaps if the leaders of the organizations in question took a pay cut the whole enterprise would be run a lot cheaper. Like hospital staff, like municipal staff, mayors, councilmen, the chief of police, and everybody down at interior health. As a start. I mean. As of 2020 when this hidden tax is phased out I wonder how many millions the province is going to spend trying to get back the millions it is owed or if they are just going to write it off.

Do you want the best and brightest people in positions of power, such as mayors, councilmen, chifs of police etc...? If you want the best, you have to be willing to pay for it. Just like anything else, if you don't offer the right pay, you don't get the right people. Same goes for staff in the public sector such as IH. If you pay people less, you won't attract the kinds of people you want in those positions.

You come across as jaded that your employer, if you have one, won't pay your MSP and you have to pay for your meds while other people have good jobs with benefits.

[Tradesman]

chief financial officer Tanya Garost says the municipality will need to secure an extra $80,000 next year.

She says that will amount to a 0.7 per cent tax increase.

..and there ya go a tax increase due to a new tax making home ownership more expensive.

If you were expecting a raise at work don't hold your breath as your employer now has another excuse to not buck up.

Who ends up paying for this will be who always has.

[mnprochnau]

It's about time this medical tax was phased out. As a diabetic I need to pay full price for my meds on top of the monthly medical service plan. Something I really cant afford. Perhaps if more employers in this area offered a benefit package. A recent story quoted the medical service plan being millions of dollars in arrears due to non payment by BC residents. Nice to see that not all of us are doe eyed cattle being herded around oblivious to the way here in BC we are getting screwed over paying for essential services. Look at any other province and how they make this sort of program work. BC is the only province making people pay for medical services. As a side note perhaps if the leaders of the organizations in question took a pay cut the whole enterprise would be run a lot cheaper. Like hospital staff, like municipal staff, mayors, councilmen, the chief of police, and everybody down at interior health. As a start. I mean. As of 2020 when this hidden tax is phased out I wonder how many millions the province is going to spend trying to get back the millions it is owed or if they are just going to write it off.

Do you want the best and brightest people in positions of power, such as mayors, councilmen, chifs of police etc...? If you want the best, you have to be willing to pay for it. Just like anything else, if you don't offer the right pay, you don't get the right people. Same goes for staff in the public sector such as IH. If you pay people less, you won't attract the kinds of people you want in those positions.

You come across as jaded that your employer, if you have one, won't pay your MSP and you have to pay for your meds while other people have good jobs with benefits.

thanks for your opinion. of course it is just that. An opinion and unsolicited at that. As for the best people you mean Rob Ford. As some point the wages made by these best people far out weighs their contribution. Hundreds of thousands a year for a single member of society in a civil service job. It is truly outrageous. But you go ahead thinking your interests are being addressed. Like I said doe eyed cow.

[gman313]

It's about time this medical tax was phased out. As a diabetic I need to pay full price for my meds on top of the monthly medical service plan. Something I really cant afford. Perhaps if more employers in this area offered a benefit package. A recent story quoted the medical service plan being millions of dollars in arrears due to non payment by BC residents. Nice to see that not all of us are doe eyed cattle being herded around oblivious to the way here in BC we are getting screwed over paying for essential services. Look at any other province and how they make this sort of program work. BC is the only province making people pay for medical services. As a side note perhaps if the leaders of the organizations in question took a pay cut the whole enterprise would be run a lot cheaper. Like hospital staff, like municipal staff, mayors, councilmen, the chief of police, and everybody down at interior health. As a start. I mean. As of 2020 when this hidden tax is phased out I wonder how many millions the province is going to spend trying to get back the millions it is owed or if they are just going to write it off.

INCORRECT!

"BC is the only province making people pay for medical services." You are completely wrong and need to do you research

Take Ontario for example, both employees and employers pay a tax. The employee tax is deducted directly from your pay, just like income tax, cpp and ei.

[CapitalB]

..and there ya go a tax increase due to a new tax making home ownership more expensive.

If you were expecting a raise at work don't hold your breath as your employer now has another excuse to not buck up.

Who ends up paying for this will be who always has.

I can count the amount of employers I've had who voluntarily give out raises on one unfingered appendage. I'd be willing to bet the 44(ish)% of people making under 35k a year are going to be pretty happy with this situation, the other 46 percent of people that make under 80k a year will probably be pretty split on it, and the 10% that make more than that will whinge more as their pay goes up. I really doubt it will actually prevent raises though it will absolutely be dragged out like a dead horse as the reason for not giving any.

[CapitalB]

INCORRECT!

"BC is the only province making people pay for medical services." You are completely wrong and need to do you research

Take Ontario for example, both employees and employers pay a tax. The employee tax is deducted directly from your pay, just like income tax, cpp and ei.

That just means bc is the only province to implement payment of MSP in the most parasitic fashion possible. I mean defaulting its cost to 6k above the median canadian single person income? Thanks guys thats so nice.

[kgcayenne]

Say we have an employer whose employees are all individuals without families.
The employer's payroll reaches $1,500,000 and will be paying the 1.95% Health Tax IN 2019
Each employee makes $42,000/year meaning there are 36 employees who all must pay full MSP premiums at $75/mo (2017 rate).
The employer pays 100% of the employee's MSP premiums
Their MSP Expense for 2017: $32,142.86

2018 Expense
$16,071.43 after MSP Premiums cut in half for employees.

2019 Expense
$45,321.43 after implementation of the 1.95% tax on companies whose payroll exceed $1.5M

2020 Expense
$29,250.00 after elimination of MSP premiums

TOTAL 3 YR EXPENSE: $90,642.86

3 YR EXPENSE IF THINGS WERE LEFT AT STATUS QUO $96,428.57

Whassssaproblemopeople?

[gman313]

Say we have an employer whose employees are all individuals without families.
The employer's payroll reaches $1,500,000 and will be paying the 1.95% Health Tax IN 2019
Each employee makes $42,000/year meaning there are 36 employees who all must pay full MSP premiums at $75/mo (2017 rate).
The employer pays 100% of the employee's MSP premiums
Their MSP Expense for 2017: $32,142.86

2018 Expense
$16,071.43 after MSP Premiums cut in half for employees.

2019 Expense
$45,321.43 after implementation of the 1.95% tax on companies whose payroll exceed $1.5M

2020 Expense
$29,250.00 after elimination of MSP premiums

TOTAL 3 YR EXPENSE: $90,642.86

3 YR EXPENSE IF THINGS WERE LEFT AT STATUS QUO $96,428.57

Whassssaproblemopeople?

the likelihood of that scenario is incredibly small. and only 17% of businesses in the Okanagan pay MSP for their employees. To make this accurate you must look at the totals of all business to be valid.

Overall this will cost employers more, as a total, which means increased prices.

[kgcayenne]

It’s an example of the math, that’s all.

[youjustcomplain]

thanks for your opinion. of course it is just that. An opinion and unsolicited at that. As for the best people you mean Rob Ford. As some point the wages made by these best people far out weighs their contribution. Hundreds of thousands a year for a single member of society in a civil service job. It is truly outrageous. But you go ahead thinking your interests are being addressed. Like I said doe eyed cow.

Your comment was your opinion and also unsolicited. Interested that you attempt to call me out for offering mine while you sit smugly doing the exact same thing.

What do you think forums are for, if not to offer our unsolicited opinions?

As for the rest of your rebuttal.... You pulled out the classic straw man. It really weakens your argument when you intentionally misrepresent mine in an attempt to cheaply win points.. News flash; nobody is keeping score. I made no comment of Rob Ford and the last time I checked he didn't live or work in BC, so I'm not clear how it's relevant.

Lastly, when a civil servants wages out weigh their contribution, that's a problem, but that's not what my post was about. It's about paying a good wage to those who are worth while, and frankly, you won't attract the best and brightest by offering a sub par wage. You just won't. It's all too easy to point to the %0.01 of population and blame their wages for the problems. Those wages have nothing to do with your MSP bill, your medication bills or your employers portion of the MSP.

[gman313]

It’s an example of the math, that’s all.

agreed - it is an example of the math of a very low likelihood scenario though