British Columbia Finance Minister Carole Taylor tabled her budget Tuesday, providing most people with tax cuts, and at the same time announcing a plan for big spending on housing.

Under the budget, anyone earning up to $108,000 a year will get a 10 per cent cut in income tax.

B.C. Finance Minister Carole Taylor tables her budget Tuesday.
(BC Legislature Channel)

Taylor said the cut, coupled with the 25 per cent personal income tax cut introduced when the Liberals were first elected in 2001, means British Columbia has the lowest provincial income taxes in Canada.

As well, the province will spend $2 billion over the next four years on a housing strategy, with Taylor promising 900 new beds for homeless shelters and a $50 a month increase in housing allowances for people on income assistance.

The budget forecasts a $3.2-billion surplus for 2007-08, and economic growth of 3.1 per cent, compared with 3.9 per cent in 2006.

Welfare rates for employable singles and single parents will also increase by $50 a month.

'This is the best place on Earth'

Taylor said B.C. is able to do all this because of its booming economy.

"This is the best place on Earth," said Taylor, adding that her colleagues across Canada are "watching B.C. closely on a number of fronts."

The finance minister's housing plans also include:

• Money for staffing transition houses on a 24-hour basis.
• Raising the threshold for first-time home buyers to $375,000, and the homeowner grant threshold to $950,000 from $780,000.
• Setting aside $250 million from the budget surplus to establish a housing endowment fund to support innovative housing projects.

Major funding of the government's green plan, highlighted in last week's throne speech, will come next year, Taylor said, after a climate action team appointed by Premier Gordon Campbell develops the government's plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in British Columbia by one-third by 2020.

There are some environment initiatives in the budget, including an extension of the $2,000 provincial sales tax break on the purchase of hybrid vehicles, and a promise to spend $4 million to help form the premier's climate action team.
 
Taylor indicated the government is planning to introduce a surcharge on hydro rates this year as part of the government's energy plan. She did not say how much the surcharge will be.

With files from the Canadian Press