Ministry of Finance and Corporate Relations Honourable Paul Ramsey, Minister	This electronic version is for informational purposes only. The printed version remains the official version.

Report D: TAX EXPENDITURES

TABLE D2
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AND BUSINESS ASSISTANCE PROGRAMS

TAX EXPENDITURE				1999/00 Estimated Cost
				($ millions)
PROVINCIAL SALES TAX
Commissions paid to retailers and hotel operators1				24
Exemptions for the following items:
			Livestock for human consumption and agricultural feed, seed and fertilizer	36
			Exempt purchases by farmers, fishers and aquaculturists	22
FUEL TAX
		Tax exemption for international flights carrying cargo		5
		Tax exemption for family farm trucks (on road)		2
		Tax reduction for compressor fuel used to transmit natural gas from wellhead to processing plant		6
PERSONAL INCOME TAX
		Venture capital tax credit		6
		Employee venture capital tax credit		8
CORPORATION INCOME TAX
Provincial Measures
		Film and video tax credit		15
		Production services tax credit		15
		International financial business tax refund2		2
		Two-year corporate income tax holiday for small business		3
		Scientific Research and Development Tax Credit3		10
		Mining Exploration Tax Credit		3
Federal Measures4
		Earned depletion		1
CORPORATION CAPITAL TAX
		Exemption for family farm and cooperative corporations		3
		Two-year tax holiday for eligible British Columbia investment5		23
SCHOOL AND RURAL AREA PROPERTY TAXATION6
		School tax assessment reduction on current values for farm land and vacant or residential land in the ALR, and various exemptions for farm buildings and residences		17
		Assessment of farm land at farm use values7		84
		Assessment exemption of $10,000 for industrial and business properties		7
		Overnight tourist accommodation assessment relief		3
OTHER TAXES
		Oil and gas royalty holiday		3
1 Any registered vendor who collects provincial consumption taxes is eligible for a small commission to help offset the vendor's collection costs. 2 Includes employee income tax refunds. 3 The Scientific Research and Development tax credit was introduced effective September 1, 1999. The figure reflects the estimate for the partial year. 4 The provincial revenue loss estimates for federal measures are based on estimates of the federal losses contained in Government of Canada: Tax Expenditures, 1999. Certain tax expenditure items have been excluded where no data were available. 5 The tax holiday was extended from two to four years for qualifying expenditures made after March 31, 1999. The tax expenditure associated with the extension will not occur until 2001/02. 6 Estimates are for the 1999 calendar year and include only school and rural area property taxes levied by the province. In previous years the Managed Forest Land (MFL) property class was included as a preference to the Unmanaged Forest Land class. Following the Memorandum of Understanding signed with the Private Forest Landowners Association in 1999, MFL is considered the standard for private forest lands and is not included as a tax expenditure. 7 Currently, the values of farm land and residential land in the Agricultural Land Reserve are reduced by 50 per cent for school tax purposes. The $84 million estimate assumes that farm land would be assessed at 100 per cent of market value.