British Columbians will once again be getting a $110 ICBC rebate, Finance Minister Brenda Bailey announced Tuesday (March 4) in the 2025 budget.
The one-time 2025 rebate, the province said, will total $410 million to personal and commercial policy holders.
Along with the rebate, the province also highlighted increases to several tax credits, as well as increased tax rates.
Tax credits
Highlighting the province’s interactive technology hub, the budget notes the interactive digital media tax credit will increase to 25 per cent from 17.5 per cent. Bailey also announced the tax credit would become permanent. The tax credit is meant to help companies attract the talent needed to grow teams and compete for more contracts.
The province is also increasing the investment limit for individuals through the small business venture capital tax credit, along with a temporary $15 million increase to the program’s budget for 2025-27.
For the film industry, the province in recent months has already made strides to protect and emphasize the importance of B.C.’s film industry. The province announced in late 2024 that Film Incentive BC credits for Canadian content productions would increase to 40 per cent, up from 35 per cent, retroactive to Jan. 1, 2025. For international projects made in B.C., the production services tax credit has increased to 36 per cent from 28 per cent, and for projects claiming that tax with B.C. production costs exceeding $200 million could also get an additional two per cent tax credit.
The climate action tax credit will continue.
Speculation and vacancy tax
First introduced in 2018, Budget 2025 includes an increase to the speculation and vacancy tax rates.
The rate for foreign owners and untaxed worldwide owners is now three per cent of their home’s value, up from two per cent.
For Canadian citizens and permanent residents, the tax rates increased to one per cent from 0.5 per cent.