I find it real amusing when I hear people in retail store lineups, bank lineups, fast food lineups, etc. complaining that there is not enough staff on.
The reason why you have to line up and wait is because of our provincial government and the taxpayers that voted for this government.
Why? The present provincial government eliminated the BC Medical Services billings and created a new tax called the Employer Health Care tax.
Why? The government had to find another source of revenue for eliminating B.C. medical services billings.
This new tax is 1.95 per cent of the total yearly payroll. An example is the City of Vancouver. When the BC medical billing system was in, the City of Vancouver paid BC Medical $4 million a year.
These amounts would be added to the gross pay of the employees’ paycheques to pay income tax on. Now with the new Employer Health Care tax, the City of Vancouver now pays $9.5 million to the provincial government. This is an increase of 137 per cent.
Now the City of Vancouver must add this increase to taxpayer yearly property tax bills.
This new Employer Health Care tax has also been the cause of self check-out counters. Employers must make cutbacks on wages to avoid paying large amounts of tax.
If you keep blaming retailers that you have to wait in line then you must have to have your heads examined. There was no need to bring in this Employer Health Care tax.
Why? The government should have retained the B.C. Medical billings, and just lowered our income tax rates.
Plain and simple common sense. The government wins with this tax and the workers suffer with less hours of work and take-home pay. An example of NDP math.
Joe Sawchuk,
Duncan