Steve Willems September 11, 2017 Wealth Planning

Highlights from the 2017 British Columbia Budget

Finance Minister Carole James tabled the first budget of the new British Columbia provincial government on September 11, 2017. This updates the outgoing government’s provincial budget from February 21, 2017, which was not fully implemented due to the election and the change of government. The minister projects a balanced budget for the fifth consecutive fiscal year, with surpluses in each of the next three years of the fiscal plan.

The budget projects surpluses of $246 million for the 2017-2018 fiscal year, $228 million for the 2018-2019 fiscal year and $257 million for the 2019-2020 fiscal year.

On the income tax side, the government introduced a new top personal income tax rate and increased the general corporate income tax rate and the carbon tax rate. There was also a decrease to the small business corporate income tax rate. There were extensions to existing tax credits and the introduction of new credits, some of which were previously announced.

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