Get ready to pay more for services, tax increases in 2017

VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – As British Columbians count down the days until the end of 2016, they’re also adding up the new taxes and fees they can expect to pay in the New Year.

Bus fares, property taxes, utilities, and health and car insurance are just some of the living costs you will be shelling out more cash for. “For BC residents it’s going to be another year of paying more,” says Canadian Taxpayers Federation BC Director Jordan Bateman.

While many families will reap the benefits of changes to Employment Insurance premiums and the Canada Child Benefit, Bateman says, “unfortunately the provincial government and the cities are more than clawing that back. So, most of us will end up in the red again.”

Bateman attributes the increases to wastefulness on the part of all levels of government and he also criticized the management of ICBC and BC Hydro.

New taxes and fees in 2017 include

Medical Services Premiums

Childless couples who make more than $45,000 and senior couples who bring home more than $51,000 will pay an extra 10 per cent for MSP as of January 1st. However, single people, single parents, and low-income seniors and families will see their premiums go down.

“Most people will recall the big splash by the BC Liberal government, they were going to freeze that tax, but if you don’t have kids and you’re making more than $45,000 a year, you’ll actually pay $168 more this year, so not exactly an MSP freeze,” Bateman says.

TransLink property tax and fare hike

Come July 1st, TransLink users will pay $0.10 more for single-use fares and $2 more for monthly passes. When TransLink first announced the hikes, the first since 2013, it claimed the hike was necessary to fund a 10-year plan to improve transit in Metro Vancouver.
Property owners will also see $3 to $5 of their tax hike go to the transit authority

ICBC
The average driver will pay $42 more, starting January 16th for basic insurance and $18 more for optional insurance.

BC Hydro and Fortis BC
It will cost the average BC Hydro homeowner $49.32, 3.5 per cent, more to keep the lights on starting April 1st, while Fortis BC customers will pay 2.76 per cent more for electricity starting January 1st.

Property taxes
BC cities have that finished their 2017 budget forecast a two to five per cent raise in property taxes. In Vancouver, the average homeowner will pay $156, a 3.9 per cent hike — 0.5 per cent of which will go directly to fighting the opioid overdose crisis.

Vancouver’s one per cent empty home tax also comes into effect January 1st.

BC Ferries
BC Ferries Commissioner has allowed the crown corporation to raise fares by 1.9 per cent next year, a hike that would take effect April 1st, but the company hasn’t announced whether it will.