British Columbia Shelves Opaque System for Corporate Tax Breaks<br />While the tax breaks were designed to attract companies to British Columbia, Ms. James, the finance minister, told the legislature on Wednesday<br />that the five companies receiving the largest tax refunds were already in the province before the program was expanded in 2004.<br />Although the government oversaw the program, participating companies were required to join<br />and fund a nonprofit group, AdvantageBC, led by a former provincial finance minister, Colin Hansen.<br />Carole James said that Ministry of Finance analysis, based on actual taxpayer data, clearly<br />shows this tax subsidy wasn’t delivering the promised jobs or economic activity,<br />ployment opportunities and well-paid, highly skilled jobs." But it said<br />that companies benefiting from the tax breaks had generated "minimal" job growth, even though the program was dramatically expanded that year. that create new em<br />In May, an article by The New York Times found that the province had doled out more than 140<br />million Canadian dollars, about $109 million, in tax refunds to companies since 2008.
