Even NDP MLAs Heard the PST Warning. Bailey Still Won’t Pull the Plug
An all-party finance committee that includes three NDP MLAs recommended repealing B.C.’s PST expansion. Brenda Bailey says the government is not backing down.
The NDP government’s PST expansion is no longer just an opposition complaint. CBC reported August 13 that an all-party finance committee, including NDP MLAs Paul Choi, Rohini Aurora and Debra Toporowski, recommended scrapping the planned expansion of the provincial sales tax to a range of professional services.
That matters because the services at issue are not luxuries. CBC identified accountants, engineers, architects and security companies among the sectors set to charge the seven per cent tax starting October 1. The province’s own notice says PST will apply to accounting, architectural, engineering and geoscience, security, and non-residential real estate services at seven per cent, with the architectural, engineering and geoscience levy applying to 30 per cent of the purchase price.
Finance Minister Brenda Bailey’s response, as reported by CBC, was blunt: the government is not looking to back away from the plan. CBC also reported the expansion is projected to raise $1.4 billion over three years while B.C. faces a $13-billion deficit.
That is the heart of the problem. Victoria’s budget hole is real, but a deficit does not automatically justify adding costs to the professional services businesses rely on to build homes, keep books, design projects, manage strata buildings and secure workplaces. A tax that hits those inputs can move through invoices and project budgets before ordinary people see the final bill.
The committee process should have forced humility. Choi told CBC the committee report is meant to solicit ideas and ensure they are considered in the budget process, not to reflect each MLA’s personal view. Fine. But that makes the recommendation harder, not easier, for cabinet to dismiss. If the committee is reporting what stakeholders told it, then stakeholders told Victoria the PST expansion should be repealed.
The B.C. Conservative Caucus has framed the recommendation as proof the government should “pull the plug” on the tax hike. That is partisan language, but the public-policy test is straightforward and fair: before October 1, Bailey should release a sector-by-sector cost table, the projected compliance burden, the expected housing and construction impacts, and the alternatives cabinet rejected.
British Columbians are already told to absorb higher housing costs, higher borrowing costs, higher operating costs and a weaker economy. Now the same government wants to defend a broader PST bite because it needs revenue. If the NDP can prove this is the least damaging choice, it should show the math. If it cannot, it should listen to the committee and stop the expansion before businesses and consumers are handed another bill.