BC's newly installed provincial government has been anything but disappointing to business interests, current flaps over electricity rate freezes and workmen's comp notwithstanding. One sign of turning over a whole new maple leaf is the economic confidence survey conducted every quarter by the Vancouver Board of Trade. In a scant two years, from spring 1999 to spring 2001, confidence has nearly doubled, from a composite rating of 3.61 to 6.5.
      Vancouver Economic Development Commission Executive Director Linda Thorstad notes the change in political climate: "With the election of the Liberals into the BC legislature in May, there is a great deal of renewed optimism regarding the growth of the economy. The reductions in business and personal taxes and recent announcements relating to the new labor agenda coincide with a sharp increase in housing sales in Vancouver and overall increased consumer confidence in BC."
      Currently, British Columbia has a 0.3 percent general capital corporate tax rate and no payroll tax. The provincial corporate income tax rates are 16.5 percent for general, manufacturing and processing sectors, and 4.75 percent for small businesses. But some of that's changing already.
      "An across-the-board, 25-percent personal provincial income tax cut is complemented by additional business tax cuts," explains Thorstad's colleague Lisa Deguchi. "Of particular interest, the corporate capital tax on non-financial institutions is set to be eliminated completely within two years, and the corporation income tax rate is reduced by 3 percent to 13.5 percent.
      "In comparison to other major world business centers," concludes Deguchi, "Vancouver ranks very favorably in terms of cost of living, cost of doing business, a highly and diversely skilled work force, labor costs and infrastructure."