The B.C. government is announcing $660 million in new tax incentives and outlining how it will spend another $1.5 billion meant for economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.

The tax incentives include a temporary 100 per cent PST rebate on select machinery and equipment for eligible businesses and a 15 per cent tax credit on eligible new payroll to encourage businesses to hire more workers.

The plan also earmarks $417 million to support jobs and training, including $300 million to hire new health-care workers. There is also money for the tourism industry, food security, climate action, and technology and innovation.

About $100 million in infrastructure grants will be available for projects that are ready to begin and $300 million in grants for small and medium businesses to help protect more than 200,000 jobs in hard-hit industries.

Another $470 million for a new provincial sales tax rebate on business investments in machinery and equipment, as well as a 15-per-cent refundable tax credit based on eligible new payroll.

About $300 million will go toward small and medium sized business recovery grants, touted to help approximately 15,000 hard-hit businesses. The government says that as of August, almost 250,000 jobs have been restored, roughly about 62 per cent of the total jobs lost due to the pandemic.

The tourism sector will be getting $100 million which is short of the $680 million the industry was asking for. Finance Minster Carole James says supporting the tourism industry is a long term issue which will require more support down the road.

The province had previously committed $1.5 billion to economic recovery as part of the initial $5-billion COVID-19 relief fund. It has also team up with the federal government to provide an additional $1 billion for transit and municipalities.

You can read the plan here.

– With files from The Canadian Press

More to come