Key takeaways from the 2024 provincial budget

The NDP presented its budget for 2024/2025 yesterday, eight months ahead of the provincial election. Here are some of the key takeaways:

Rising deficit

The projected deficit for 2024-2025 is $7.9B, a $2B increase from the 2023/2024 projection. If this deficit holds, it will be the highest in provincial history. Projections for the next two fiscal years show a similar deficit, hitting $7.8B in 2025-2026 and $6.3B in 2026-2027. Total debt will rise to $123.2B, up $20B from last year. Taxpayer-supported debt is projected to hit $88.6B for 2024-2025, up from nearly $72B at the end of 2023-24.

In her speech, Finance Minister Katrine Conroy said that while some may argue the government should make deeper spending cuts, it “would only weaken the services we all rely on,” leaving people to “fend for themselves.”

‍ IVF

A new program will cover the cost of the first round of in-vitro fertilization (IVF) to help a person conceive a child. However, additional rounds of IVF, which some people need, will not be covered. A single IVF treatment can cost between $10K and $20K in Canada. Funding for this will become available in April 2025.

New home flipping tax

Starting in 2025, properties sold within a year of purchasing will be taxed 20% of the profits. After that first year, a sliding scale will determine the tax amount until the end of the second year when it will fall to zero. There will be exemptions for homes with secondary suites, and situational exemptions for selling due to death, divorce, or safety issues.

‍ Tax relief for business

The exemption for the Employer Health Tax has been raised to include businesses with payrolls of up to $1M, doubling the previous exemption limit of $500K. The province says this would be applied to 90% of businesses, exempting them from the 3% tax—this could save a combined $100M at least, according to the government.

Cost of living benefits

Families with children under 18 get a 25% bonus added to their BC Family Benefit for one year starting in July, adding $445 per family this year.

A one-time electricity credit will offer an average savings of $100 per household over a year, starting in April.

The First-time Homebuyers Program will be expanded with a threshold increase to homes valued at $835K, with the first $500K exempt from tax. The previous limit for this program was homes valued at $500K.

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With files from Sidney Coles.