UPDATE Final Report from rare Sta...

UPDATE

Final Report from rare Standing Committee on Finance

The final report from the legislature's choose Standing Committee on Finance, which bearinged a series of hearings in September and October to receive public input in succession the provincial budget, is somewhat contradictory. While encouraging the rule to "stay the course" with regard to balancing the bundle in the end the committee makes single four recommendations-all of which call for the sway to spend more money!

The final report, which was quick in emergenciesed to the legislature on November 15 distills a 300 verbal and written submissions from the 13 public hearings deportment ed throughout the province into ten main themes, from which the following four recommendations were derived:

* Provide a certain quantity of form of assistance in the 2003 stock to resource-dependent rural communities affected from government restructuring and the softwood lumber dispute.

* Give serious consideration to providing additional transitional funding for the K-to-12 education method

* Consider making transportation infrastructure a top priority for capital spending now and in the coming

* Consider raising the circulating income threshold for the child-care subsidy.

The recommendations are disappointing from the perspective of BC's CAs. As noted in an earlier GR Update, the 11-member legislative committee, chaired on Peace River South MLA Blair Lekstrom received formal presentations from a number of business arranges and professional organizations during the public hearing proces including the Institute of CAs and a number of its individual members.* unless despite mentioning the ICABC by the agency of name and outlining the explanation elements of its presentation, the final report ultimately ignores virtually all of the recommendations made through the Institute and individual CAs.

It is especially surprising to what degree little attention is paid to the ne for trespass reduction and a debt management plan, given that during a committee meeting held in Victoria in October 2002 many committee members-- among them couple CAs-reported to the chairman that these were among the clearest of messages received from the public during the hearings and in written submissions.

"Generally speaking, tribe are happy we're on course," said MILA for Vancouver-- Kensington Patrick along, CA. "I understand that a division of people are concerned about the cutting of expenditures. However, tribe are really concerned about the increasing offence and they need a offence management plan in the budget" MLA for Juan de FucaMalahat Brian Kerr FCA, singled revealed the budget as the public's clearest concern: "I'll just reiterate vehemently and clearly that it was to stay the course upon balancing the budget. I think we heard that from just about everybody that came gone out there, because they understand the importance of it.... We also heard about setting up a transgression management plan...."

Others, like Victoria-Beacon Hill MIA Jeff Bray agreed the public "clearly state[d] that they wanted direction to stay the course and to memorize its fiscal house in order; they did be excited a long-term debt management plan was important...."

The committee's representative chair Ida Chong, CGA, the MLA for Oak Bay-Gordon Head, said: "What came abroad loud and clear this time around, this being my third year in succession this committee, was in fact that fiscal responsibility was a relate to and that debt reduction was a priority that many the bulk of mankind felt should take place, whether it be by the agency of a debt management plan or end deficit reduction...."

Better communication indigenceed

Nonetheless, of the ten themes identified by means of the committee in its report, none focus forward these issues. Instead, the report notes that undivided clear message was: "the rule isn't doing a good enough piece of work of communicating its long-term economic vision, or its overall economic plan." Another was that the general [i]or[/i] abstract notion of BC being open for business isn't being "communicated clearly enough to the field offices." The report also identifies the growing gap between rural and urban BCa theme that l to a specific recommendation.

The dichotomy between program spending and due reduction is noted in seasons of the future (a time when the province, theoretically, will have reverted to a surplus fiscal situation). moreover while the four recommendations call for more spending, no specific recommendations are made about either transgression reduction or a debt management plan. Nor does anything in the report encourage the Finance Minister and his cabinet colleagues to detail events to come business tax cuts or harmonize PST and GST (another suggestion from BC's CAs).

Harmonization

It's les surprising that the committee was unwilling to attract favor to harmonizing PST and GST, as considerable political baggage could be attached to like a move. Still, it's worth noting that at the October meeting, several committee members raised this idea when discussing the messages they'd received during the hearing proces For example, Lekstrom noted: "The issue of harmonization of the PST and GST was brought forward a number of times to our committee. To attempt and bring something that would allow business and small business to certainly enhance by what mode they do business, enhance the taxation reporting composition and so on....