Seniors living in B.C. residential care centres will face cuts to their services unless the government protects the facilities from the impact of the harmonized sales tax, operators say.
The HST will cost the province’s approximately 100 publicly-funded facilities a projected $10 million, says the B.C. Care Providers Association.
“There is no way to pass along this cost so it is going to be the responsibility of the care facilities to absorb it,” said Ed Helfrich, the association’s CEO. “The fiscal reality for facilities is quite tight already.”
The only way to manage the increased tax burden would be to lay off staff, he said. Residents are charged a daily fee based on their income and facility owners can’t increase the price they charge the government to provide care.
He said a 100-bed care home that contracts out laundry and meal service will pay an extra $60,000 in taxes when the HST goes into effect July 1.
The B.C. association and its Ontario counterpart have been lobbying the federal and provincial governments to either include privately-owned residential care homes in the same exempted category as hospitals, or to set up a rebate system, Helfrich said.
The HST was passed in the House of Commons Wednesday.
Christine Nidd, provincial director for Revera Long Term Care, which operates 18 private-and publicly-funded facilities in B.C., said a solution is imperative.
“Everybody agrees something needs to be done,” Nidd said. “If we don’t find a way, the only option is to reduce services to seniors, and they will absolutely feel the impact.”
[CanWest News Service]
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I think this is absolutley the lowest thing every, My mother in law does not even have enough money to pay her care and meds as VIHA has raised the monthly rate which leaves my mother in Law with $275.00 a month and her meds are over $300.00. That is highway robbery, how in the heck are we suppose to buy her other neccessities when my husband was off for a year and a half. Our government is failing us Canadians big time and we need a change. I think Canada is going backwards and not forward. Wake up Canada!!!!!!!!!!!!
There’s so much I can say but I guess I’ve given up. I was trying to raise awareness for 8 months but people preferred to remain ignorant. I also told them to ‘wake up’ but you might as well be talking to deaf ears. Canadians don’t excel at protesting but they do excel at complaining. So now they are stuck with the HST and the complaining has already started. I doubt Canadians will ever learn, Actions speak louder than words!