Budget 2025 includes none of the major tax incentives business organizations have been pushing for, like the elimination of the provincial sales tax on machinery, but does include a few incentives for business.
The budget boosts the Integrated Marketplace Initiative with $30 million, a B2B initiative that B.C. Finance Minister Brenda Bailey said “helps commercial clients get new technologies tailored to their needs.”
The budget also increases film tax credits. A new major production services tax credit of two per cent will be introduced for productions worth more than $200 million.
Other incentives for business include:
- an increase of the Film Incentive credit from 35 to 40 per cent, retroactive to January 1, 2025;
- an increase to the Interactive Digital Media Tax Credit from 17.5 per cent to 25 per cent, which will be permanent;
- a three-year extension of the New Mine Allowance.
Though not a budget item, Bailey noted in her budget speech that her government has already announced plans to fast-track 18 energy and resource projects in B.C.
“We are already accelerating 18 natural resource projects worth $20 billion in economic activity and more than 8,000 jobs, while actively looking for more projects to expedite,” she said.
(Editor's note: This story has been updated to correct the citation of the B.C. Manufacturing Jobs Fund as the program receiving $30 million. It is in fact the Integrated Marketplace Initiative that will receive the funding.)
