[EXCERPT]
The employer health tax was designed to replace MSP revenue, so it’s likely to cost eligible businesses more than MSP did, says Ken Peacock, chief economist of the Business Council of B.C.
That’s because business only accounted for about half of the province’s MSP revenue, with the rest paid directly by individuals.
Payroll costs and taxes put added pressure on businesses to choose contract labour instead of full-time employment, accelerating an already strong trend to the “gig economy” where people work multiple jobs to pay their bills, Peacock said.
