Almost three-in-five residents (57%) say they dislike having to pay the Provincial Sales Tax (PST).
Vancouver, BC [April 13, 2021] – Most British Columbians will file their taxes by themselves, but with the help of software or apps, a new Research Co. poll has found.
In the online survey of a representative provincial sample, 52% of British Columbians intend to use this method during this fiscal year.
Just over one-in-five British Columbians (21%) will file their taxes through an accountant or firm, while 13% plan to rely on a tax preparation company and 11% will file by themselves, but without requiring any software or apps.
“The pandemic has not changed the way British Columbians file their taxes,” says Mario Canseco, President of Research Co. “There are minimal fluctuations when we compare this year’s methods to what respondents did in 2020.”
Half of British Columbians (50%) think the provincial income tax they pay is too high, while 41% consider it adequate.
Women (58%), British Columbians aged 35-to-54 (63%) and residents of Northern BC (66%) are more likely to feel that the provincial income tax is too high.
A higher proportion of the province’s residents think three other taxes are currently too high: the Goods and Services Tax (GST) (51%), the federal income tax (55%) and the Provincial Sales Tax (57%).
Almost three-in-five British Columbians (57%) say they dislike having to pay the PST, while 37% do not mind and 5% are not sure.
The level of animosity from British Columbians is lower for paying the GST (56%), the provincial income tax (48%) and the federal income tax (46%).
While only 41% of British Columbians who voted for the BC New Democratic Party (NDP) in last year’s provincial election dislike having to pay the provincial income tax, the proportion rises to 46% among those who voted for the BC Greens and 49% among those who voted for the BC Liberals.
Almost two thirds of British Columbians who voted for the Conservative Party in the 2019 federal election (65%) say they dislike paying the federal income tax. The proportion falls to 44% among federal NDP voters and to 40% among Liberal voters.
Methodology:
Results are based on an online survey conducted from March 19 to March 21, 2021, among 800 adults in British Columbia. The data has been statistically weighted according to Canadian census figures for age, gender and region in British Columbia. The margin of error—which measures sample variability—is +/- 3.5 percentage points, nineteen times out of twenty.
Find our data tables here and download the press release here.
For more information on this poll, please contact:
Mario Canseco, President, Research Co.
778.929.0490
[e] mario.canseco@researchco.ca