New Democrats put forward a detailed fiscal plan yesterday that will be included in the 2013 BC NDP election platform.

Adrian Dix has consistently said that the BC NDP will be clear about what a New Democrat government will do and how we will pay for our commitments.  The prudent revenue measures announced today will fund the NDP’s platform commitments that will be announced in the coming days. And they will not add to the real deficit.   These measures include:

•Corporate income tax rate increase from 11 to 12 per cent with no increases for small businesses.   British Columbia will still have the fifth-lowest corporate tax rate in Canada.

•Corporation capital tax reinstated on financial institutions, three per cent for banks and one per cent for financial institutions with headquarters in BC, including credit unions.  Credit unions with capital holdings less than $20 million will be exempt.

•High income earners’ personal income tax increased to 19 per cent for taxable individual income above $150,000.  This measure will only effect the top two per cent of income earners. The tax rate for those earning $122,000 and less remains the lowest in Canada.

•Carbon tax base expanded to include vented emissions from oil and gas operations to help reduce greenhouse gas emissions in BC.

Above from the NDP

Below from the Liberals

Finance Minister Mike de Jong says the NDP’s so-called fiscal plan isn’t one at all: it is a tax and spend plan, pure and simple.

“Nowhere do they talk about a balanced budget — because it isn’t in their vocabulary,” said de Jong. “You can’t have a fiscal plan that doesn’t actual have any targets but it’s not surprising as balancing the budget wasn’t important to Adrian Dix the last time he was in the Premier’s Office and it is clear that it isn’t important to him if he returns.”

While refusing to say how deep in red the NDP will go, they plan to increase taxes and force investment out of the province.”By increasing the corporate tax in BC, they are taxing the job creators in BC — the forest and mining industries and even the film industry for companies that make more than $500,000.”

“And by raising the carbon tax the NDP puts at risk thousands of jobs in one of our most important and growing industries,” added de Jong. “It is a signal to the natural gas industry that they aren’t really serious about LNG. No wonder they run down the Prosperity Fund—they don’t really want the LNG industry to flourish in BC.”