Kamloops taxpayers won’t notice a difference in taxes next year when MSP premiums are gone.
Finance director Kathy Humphrey says MSP was covered by city coffers for this year, which totaled more than $600,000.
“We had that allocated, we brought that forward to council last year because we were concerned last year – for this current fiscal year, 2019 – about having a really significant increase in benefit payments because of the half MSP and the full Employers Health Tax. We didn’t really want to increase taxes for one year only to then reduce them the following year.”
The province is eliminating MSP as of Jan. 1, 2020, and replacing it with the Employers Health Tax.
Humphrey says the Employers Health Tax will cost Kamloops taxpayers about $200,000 extra per year compared to if the city was paying MSP instead.
This year, the province is collecting both 50 per cent of MSP premiums as well as the full EHT. Health Minister Adrian Dix told NL News last month he doesn’t think collecting both taxes this year is hurting businesses.