B.C.'s PST expansion is a tax on a tax, and we all pay the price

This op-ed was originally published on June 10, 2026 in Business in Vancouver.

By Bridgitte Anderson, GVBOT President & CEO

Starting October 1, every new home, every major project, and every small business in British Columbia will quietly become more expensive to build and operate. Not because materials cost more. Not because wages went up. But because the provincial government decided to tax the same dollar twice.

B.C. is expanding the Provincial Sales Tax to the professional services behind nearly every construction project, every compliant small business, and every piece of public infrastructure. Unlike sales taxes in most other provinces, the PST cannot be recovered by the businesses that pay it. The cost gets passed down the chain until it lands on the people the government says it's trying to help.

That is the definition of a tax on a tax. And it is the reason the Greater Vancouver Board of Trade launched Stop the Squeeze, a province-wide campaign calling on the government to reverse course.

The unfairness is straightforward. A young family buying their first home will pay more before the foundation is poured because the cost of the PST has already been built into every stage of the project. A small retailer will pay more just to keep their books in order and their storefront safe, when hiring security firms. A non-profit housing provider will watch construction costs rise and affordable units become harder to finance. Every taxpayer will bear higher costs for the new schools, hospitals, and transit projects our communities desperately need.

This is not a tax on business. It is a tax on the people and communities that businesses serve, layered on top of the taxes they already pay, and hidden inside prices most British Columbians will never see itemized.

That hidden quality is part of the problem. In most other provinces, sales tax is applied transparently at the point of final purchase, so consumers can see exactly what they are paying. B.C.'s PST works differently. It is embedded at every stage of production, compounding quietly, until the final price tells you nothing about how much tax is actually built into it. Expanding the PST to professional services makes that problem worse, not better.

It also makes B.C. less competitive. In provinces where businesses can recover the sales tax they pay on inputs like equipment, services, and construction costs, that money flows back into investment, hiring, and growth. In B.C., it doesn't. Every dollar of PST on a business input is a dollar that cannot be reinvested in the province. Expanding the tax to professional services widens that gap at exactly the moment B.C. should be doing everything it can to attract capital and major projects.

The timing could not be worse for B.C.'s broader economic position. Canada is counting on this province to deliver.

Indeed, on May 20^th, we welcomed Prime Minister Mark Carney for his first address to the region’s business community. When asked what the moment we’re living through means for the Greater Vancouver business community. His message was direct: “The world really does want to do more with Canada. They want to invest more here. They want more trade. They want more partnership. So get out there and lead. This is the time you'll find you'll be exceptionally well received. This is the opportunity.”

We are a gateway to global markets, we are advancing major projects that will create new jobs, generate revenue, and improve affordability for years to come.

That work runs directly through the services this tax targets. You cannot build a mine, a port terminal, a new dam, a transit line, or a housing development without the professional work that surrounds every construction site. Raising the cost of those inputs raises the cost of every major project British Columbia is counting on, at the exact moment our country needs us to move faster, not slower.

The PST expansion also contradicts the government's own stated priorities. The Province has said, time and time again, that it wants to accelerate housing construction, unleash major project development, and keep our streets safe. Yet this tax hits the very inputs required to do all three.

The government of British Columbia is making it harder for us to meet the moment. This is why we are calling on the government to scrap this tax expansion and work together to build a simpler and fairer tax system that doesn’t tax the same dollar twice.

We can't tax our way to prosperity by targeting the foundations of our homes, our small businesses, and our economy. Removing this tax would be proof that the government means what it says.