Re: Only 99 days
Posted: Tue Mar 20, 2018 6:34 pm
NDP meeting with BCTF, look for higher taxes.
2% or more each year.
2% or more each year.
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The contract, part of the NDP's Child Care Operating Funding Program, promises to provide licensed providers a subsidy aimed at reducing the fees charged to parents by as much a $350 per month per child, if signed by March 27.
But according to Andrea Worms of the B.C. Child Care Owners Association, the subsidy listed in the contract is different from what was originally promised by the Ministry of Children and Family Development and from information in a document provided by the ministry last Friday.
"They can't even explain it. Every phone call to the ministry's office comes back with a different answer," said Worms, who operates two child-care facilities in Kelowna.
"Lawyers have said you can't sign a contract that says you're going to get $300 [from a subsidy] while committing to giving a $350 discount. That means you're losing money."
Another problem with the contract is that it stipulates daycare operators freeze their fees for three years, except under "extenuating circumstances." However the term "extenuating circumstances" is not defined.
Worms says agreeing to a fee freeze opens operators up to serious financial risks.
"For instance, I had plans to increase fees a little to accommodate the new MSP payroll tax that's coming in next January, which will affect my business to the tune of about $17,000 a year. That's huge. We operate on really slim margins," she said.
The B.C. government has made a number of changes to its proposed speculation tax which will reduce both the number of British Columbians paying the tax and the amount they'll pay.
The tax, first announced during February's budget, was to be assessed at 0.5 per cent of a vacant property's assessed value this year and two per cent in 2019.
On Tuesday, B.C. Finance Minister Carole James announced the tax would remain at 0.5 per cent for properties owned by B.C. residents but would now only rise to one per cent for out-of-province Canadian residents and still remain at two per cent for foreign investors.
The NDP government also said the tax would no longer apply to properties in the Gulf Islands, Parksville, Qualicum Beach or rural Fraser Valley.
The tax will still apply in the following areas:
Metro Vancouver, Chilliwack, Abbotsford and Mission (excluding Bowen Island).
The Capital Regional District (excluding the Gulf Islands).
The municipalities of Nanaimo, Lantzville, Kelowna and West Kelowna.
The government said a tax credit would make homes worth less than $400,000 exempt for British Columbians only, along with those rented for more than six months of the year.
What she is saying is that the original numbers were wrong and the tax grab was far higher but she was too chicken to say how high it actually would have been.James said the government is still forecasting $200 million in revenue from the tax, because the original numbers from the finance department were conservative.
Official Opposition and B.C. Liberal Party Leader Andrew Wilkinson criticized both the changes to the tax, and the estimates about the revenue it would generate.
"We're very concerned the NDP are making up taxes by trial and error… there's no clear pictures of where the money's going to come from," he said, adding that he believed the government should have increased the capital gains tax if they wanted to deter speculation.
Yup
Dream Weaver keeps him propped up though and and the greeny weiner want PR voting.