British Columbia Shelves Opaque System for Corporate Tax Breaks
While the tax breaks were designed to attract companies to British Columbia, Ms. James, the finance minister, told the legislature on Wednesday
that the five companies receiving the largest tax refunds were already in the province before the program was expanded in 2004.
Although the government oversaw the program, participating companies were required to join
and fund a nonprofit group, AdvantageBC, led by a former provincial finance minister, Colin Hansen.
Carole James said that Ministry of Finance analysis, based on actual taxpayer data, clearly
shows this tax subsidy wasn’t delivering the promised jobs or economic activity,
ployment opportunities and well-paid, highly skilled jobs." But it said
that companies benefiting from the tax breaks had generated "minimal" job growth, even though the program was dramatically expanded that year. that create new em
In May, an article by The New York Times found that the province had doled out more than 140
million Canadian dollars, about $109 million, in tax refunds to companies since 2008.