New Employer Health Tax to take away services offered by non-profits

Non-profits are expecting to take a major loss once the BC NDP introduces the Employer Health Tax in 2019.

This is because during the year EHT is implemented, organizations will still be paying for medical services plans until they are eliminated in 2020.

Darrell Roze, Executive Director with the Child Development Centre in Prince George says the amount they will be paying will take a toll on their services.

“We are expecting to pay an additional $25,500. That is down a little bit the initial estimate. The province recently some changes for charities that exempt those who pay less than $1.5 million.”

The Child Development Centre pays more than $1.5 million in payroll so they were unable to be exempt fully.

Roze says he’s happy the government has tried to help smaller charities but doesn’t understand why they didn’t exempt all non-profits because organizations will be hurt in their cause.

“When you look at an extra $25,000 in expenses you either cut back or run a deficit on that amount. When you look at the work that we do, we look after children that have developmental challenges and special needs and we will have to cut back $25,000 on that.”