Policy & Positions Manual
Policy Priority Area - Competitive Taxation and Regulation
Statement of Policy
The Chamber believes the role of Government in economic affairs should be limited to providing a framework, within which businesses are encouraged to develop their full potential. Within this framework Government’s role is to provide a positive environment to support the private enterprise system. The foundation of this framework will always be to eliminate or reduce the tax and regulatory structure that is levied on the existing business community, as well as on new investment.
As an open, trading jurisdiction BC is reliant upon a competitive tax and regulatory regime at the Federal, Provincial and Municipal levels. As important as the overall level of taxation, the distribution of the tax burden and the targeting of fiscal incentives in key sectors are equally important issues affecting businesses and the regulatory obligations they face.
The multiplicity of taxes, and administration thereof, which confront businesses add unnecessarily to the cost of doing business in a disproportionate ratio to some other jurisdictions. They do this in a number of ways. The first is through the direct costs of taxes, be they personal taxes, meaning businesses in BC have to pay higher wages than their competitors to attract the talent, or business taxes that go straight to the bottom line, or the proliferation of fees and licences that businesses face in BC today.
The key for the business community is to ensure a low, efficient taxation structure which recognizes that if taxes are levied at a rate that places BC at a competitive disadvantage, or if the burden of undue and unnecessary taxes adds to a business’ bottom line, all British Columbians suffer.
The Chamber believes the Provincial Government should recognize that it is essential that BC industries' ability to compete in world markets not be impaired either through undue, or disproportionate, business or personal taxation or government imposed competitive handicaps which would contribute to significant increases in operating costs. Such costs place all industries at a disadvantage relative to competitors in foreign countries and within Canada.
