Press Releases and Articles

The BC Chamber responded to the BC Governement's Budget Update, with the following 2 documents:

For the BC Chamber Budget Update News Release, please click here

For the BC Chamber Budget Update Facts & Figures, please click here

HST Study

A recent study done by TD Bank Financial Group indicated that consumers will be impacted by the imposition of the HST but not to the degree anticipated:

• The 7% tax increase will apply to 21% of consumers' expenditures
• Effective tax rate on consumer goods will increase by 1.5%
• There will be a 0.8% - 0.9% drop in pre-tax prices due to the removal of embedded taxes
• The combination of the effective tax rate increase & the decrease in pre-tax prices means an overall price level increase of 0.7%
• 80% of cost savings due to the removal of embedded taxes will take place in the first year, 95% by the third year.