Key Issue: Finance & Taxation

COVID-19 has resulted in a new normal. More employees are working from home, and that has led many to the question: what expenses can be deducted? The CRA’s current calculation of work-at-home- expenses only allows for a very minor reimbursement, which is less than the current reality of working from home. You should be able […]

Cross-border shopping in the United States was an estimated $4.7 billion in 2006. Since then, annual increases have taken the total to $8.0 billion in 2012, 72% higher than 2006.1 The impact on BC retailers, particularly in border towns, is costing the economy billions of dollars which could be minimized if duties were enforced at […]

Based on current Canadian demographics, Canada’s baby boomers are retiring at a significant pace putting extra pressure on both the Old Age Pension Plan (OAS) as well as the Guaranteed Income Supplement (GIS). At this point, both these plans are funded from business owners and employees through general tax revenues. Because of the population shift, […]

Canada’s gateway sector is a key driving force for the nation’s economy, facilitating the movement of Canadian goods across the country and to international markets. Improving the climate for infrastructure investment in Canada’s gateway sector is imperative to address the growing pressures and demands on the sector, support the needs of our growing economy, ensure […]

After “50 Years of Cutting and Pasting”, Canadian taxation, in general, has become far too complex to understand, administer, and manage. In the present environment, there is a need, and an appetite, to have a close look at the anatomy of the Canadian taxation system to determine best practices, as well as methods of implementation. […]

As the COVID-19 pandemic persists and public health orders continue to restrict regular business activity, the provincial government can further support the BC business community by renewing two tax cuts and deferrals it introduced last year, specifically reducing school taxes and deferring the due dates of the employer health tax. Background Reducing Property Taxes via […]

The Agricultural Land Reserve (ALR) was designed to protect farmland; only 5% of BC is in the ALR, and only 1% of all of BC is prime farmland — much of which is close to urban centres. Non-farm residential and non-farm commercial uses are becoming more numerous and take advantage of tax breaks designed to […]

Depending on the government of the day, minimum wages either stagnate in comparison to the cost of living or are increased via legislation. Workers either fall behind economically; or business owners, particularly those in the service industry, suddenly find themselves facing unanticipated payroll increases. Indexing any legislated wage increases to the Consumer Price Index provides […]

While the Property Transfer Tax (PTT) used to only affect the higher price buyers, with the ongoing rise in average housing costs it now affects everyone. The surge in home buying, attributed to the 2020 – 2021 pandemic is adding to the affordability issue raised by PTT. The BC Chamber has been on record advocating […]

The ocean faces a number of severe threats: climate change, overfishing, biodiversity loss and pollution – including the ubiquitous issue of ocean plastics, which are dumped in the ocean at an average rate of about 8 million tonnes a year. These threats have led to an acidifying and warming ocean; destruction of coastal reefs; deteriorating […]