On June 27, 2013, Finance Minister Michael de Jong presented an update to British Columbia's 2013 budget. Required as a result of the province's recent election, the newly re-elected majority Liberal government used its second budget of the year to reintroduce the tax changes proposed in the budget released on February 19, 2013 (see: British Columbia Budget 2013).
As expected, there are no major changes to the budget legislation that was initially released in February. However, downward revisions have been made to the province's revenue forecasts, which have been offset by modifications to capital spending strategies and levels of debt in order to maintain a balanced budget.
From a commodity tax perspective, only one change was proposed in the budget update. As part of the re-implementation of Provincial Sales Tax (PST), effective April 1, 2013, transitional rules set out when and how PST applies to transactions that straddle the effective date. To properly transition to the new PST, the budget update noted that the transitional rules for legal services, related services and telecommunication services have been clarified, with these clarifications effective as of April 1, 2013.
Further information on the updated British Columbia budget may be found on the province's web site at: