Vernon politicians are joining a B.C. chorus to have taxes reduced for the forestry sector.
Council decided Monday to demand that the provincial sales tax on electricity be eliminated to improve the competitiveness of the forestry industry and protect jobs.
“It enables businesses, and especially energy-intensive businesses, to operate efficiently,” said Coun. Scott Anderson.
Mayor Akbal Mund says Vernon-based Tolko Industries spends about $500,000 a year on PST, while the other local firm impacted is DCT Chambers.
“This would obviously save them money,” he said.
Opposition to writing the government came from Coun. Juliette Cunningham.
“That’s a lot of money. To totally eliminate it will have a significant impact on provincial revenue and I’m concerned about what that means,” she said.
Cunningham called for the matter to be deferred so council could gather more information on the potential impact of scrapping the PST for the forest sector, but her colleagues disagreed.
“We can study things to death but it’s good for business and economic development,” said Coun. Brian Quiring.
Coun. Catherine Lord supported writing to the government, but she questions why the forest sector is being singled out to protect good-paying jobs.
“It also applies to agriculture and all sorts of business. It applies to law firms,” she said.
Earlier this year, the provincial government appointed a commission on tax competitiveness.
Among the commission’s recommendations in November were exempting business capital expenditures, including machinery and equipment, from PST in the short-term, and exempting business use of electricity and other energy, software and telecommunications services from the PST.
