EXCERPT:
The payroll tax takes effect on Jan. 1, 2019, to offset the loss in revenue from MSP premiums. Small businesses with payrolls less than $500,000 are exempt; the tax is on a sliding scale for companies with payrolls above $500,000, to a maximum of 1.95 per cent. The new tax came as a “nasty surprise,” said Jock Finlayson of the B.C. Business Council. “We weren’t expecting it.”