A2- The ferrace Standard, Wednesday, February 26, 2003

Federal cash, higher taxes
are all part of new budget

HERE ARE a few selected
highlights from the Feb. 18

* provincial budget.

Deficit trimmed
THE PROVINCIAL gov-
ernment wants to spend
$27.8 billion beginning
April 1 but have a deficit.

_ of $2.3 billion.

That deficit is to be

. lower than the forecasted

one of $3.8 billion for the
fiscal year ending March
31,

In itself, the $3.8 billion

’ deficit this year is lower

than the original estimated
of $4.4 billion.

Finance minister Gary
Collins said the deficit

: drop will continue, leading

: to a forecasted surplus of

- $50 million for the 2004-05

budget year.

It comes, it goes
A NEW round of tax in-
creases will continue to
eat away at the more than
$2 billion in tax cuts intro-
duced in 2001.

All told, various taxes
and fees will amount to
more than $250 million

: this year.

Collins said that despite

’ the tax and fee increases,

more than $1 billion re-
mains from the 2001 tax
cuts.

Going up

> THE PROVINCE is raising
- school taxes by an estima-
- ted $20 per house house-

hold, which works out to a
2.5 per cent hike. :

School tax increases
will now be tied to the an-'
nual inflation rate,

Gas taxes are poing up
by 3.5 cents a litre to pay
for roads and tobacco
taxes are going up by $2
for a carton of cigarettes.

Feds help out
B.C."S NEW status as. a
“have not” province will:
bring in federal cash.

more well to-do provinces”
and those that are less for-
tunate.

For the fiscal year now
ending the equalization
payment amounts to $668
million and helped Collins
reduce the deficit.

It is scheduled to rise
slightly to $675 million in
the new budget year, in-
creasing to $700 million in
2004-05.

The money should pro-
vide a cushion should any
of the revenue or spending
projections made by Col- |
lins go astray.

Something new
THE PROVINCE has com-
mitted itself to spending
$275 million this coming
year for what it calls a
“revitalized and sustain-
able forest sector,”

It’s expected to ease
problems faced by forest-
dependent communities as
the province shifts toward’
new ways of providing
wood. :

} .
It’s working -
THAT $1.5 million spent
to put in an instrument
landing system at the Ter-
race airport last year is
starting to pay off. ,

Just two flights couldn’t
land last December com-
pared to 22 for December
2001, says airport manager
Rick Reed. ‘

And in January, eight
flights couldn’t land com-
pared to 44 for January
2002, he said,

The new system = en-
ables pilots to descend
closer to the airport in ‘dis-
tance and in height before

‘having to make visurl

contact with the runway,

payments 5
are designed to balance —
out ‘differences: between: °:

it isn't over
“LAST YEAR’S cuts to the
provincial civil service
and to programs will conti-
nue as the province sticks
to a three-year job reduc-
tion plan,

Forest service spending,
for instance, is to decline
to $565 million next year
from $621 million this
year.

«” The children and family
‘development, ministry . will
get $1.451 billion next
year, down from $1,587
billion this year,

Human resources mini-
stry spending will decline
-to $1,417 million from
$1,519 billion.

. More health money
ALTHOUGH THE provin-
cial government has basic-
ally frozen health care
spending at $10.2 billion
for three years beginning
last year, a new arrange-
ment with the federal gov-
ernment for new health
care dollars will amount to
$1.3 billion more coming
to B.C. over the next three
years,

That’s to be spent on
specific items such as pri-
mary medical care and
home support, but: details.

&

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Work Allowance
Goes Up
PERSONS WITH disabil-
ity whe collect disability
SUpporl payments can now
earn more money without
having those support -pay-

ments reduced..

On a full disability, a
single person receives
$461.42 a month, |

_ That person can now
earn up to $300 a month

without having ‘the allow-

. ance reduced.

It is to rise to $400 a
month April 1.

This is the second in-
crease in two years. The
limit-was $200 a month
until March 2001, and rose
to the current $300 level in
April of that year,

When the $400 limit
takes effect, a single per-
son can theoretically earn
a combined $861.42 a
month.

A shelter payment of
$325 a month for a single
person is in addition to the
support payment.

Child care eased
THE AMOUNT. cof net
monthly income that is al-
lowed. before child care

subsidies are reduced has

been raised by $100. .

A single working parent
with a four-year-old ‘in
group care, for. instance,
can now have a monthly
net income of $1,297. be-
fore the maximum $368
child care subsidy is re-
duced,

As of May I, that in-
come threshold rises to
$1,397.
~ “Still, says Coco Schau
of the Family Place in
Terrace, the new income
threshold figure is still
$185 less than what it was
before cuts to child’ care
subsidies were introduced
in 2002.

And she notes the sub-
sidy itself has not been
raised since 1994,

* Child care subsidies are
now eliminated entirely for
a single parent with a four
year old in group care
once net monthly income
reaches $1,925. ;

As of May I, that in-
come level will result in a
subsidy of $51,

Provincial officials say
3,000 children will now
qualify for subsidies .as of
May 1 and parents of an-
other 6,000 children will
have their subsidies. in-
creased,

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