Strategic Context

The ministry has developed the Service Plan within the context of government priorities, and both internal and external factors that affect the ministry’s ability to meet its goals and objectives. The ministry assesses its risks and opportunities as part of its strategic and operational planning processes, and identifies strategies to support the achievement of goals and objectives.

The ministry’s key risks and opportunities are presented below.

External Risks and Opportunities

Provincial economy — The impact of the national and global economy on the provincial economic environment directly affects the ministry’s success in revenue and debt collection. Strong economic growth presents opportunity for increased revenue generation, both through new revenues, and increased revenue and debt collection resulting from increased voluntary compliance. Slower economic growth could have a negative impact on revenue generation. The ministry focuses on supporting voluntary compliance with financial obligations through information, education and outreach activities.

Business environment — Provincial tax legislation and policy, and the regulatory environment influence the competitiveness of the province’s investment climate compared to other jurisdictions. Recent research indicates the ability to easily identify, understand and comply with necessary regulations can be a determining factor in where a business decides to locate.⁸ The ministry will work to ensure the tax regime remains current and customer-centred, and will streamline and simplify the regulatory environment to assist in maintaining the competitiveness of the province as a place to live, do business and create jobs. Tax and regulatory reform will become increasingly important factors in encouraging investment in the province.

Partnerships — The ministry works with a range of partners to ensure the successful delivery of ministry services and to realize ministry goals. The ministry will maintain and build partnerships with the small business community, industry and other levels of government, and will jointly develop and implement strategies and tools to support the delivery of ministry services.

Changing legislation and policy — The ministry collects revenues on behalf of a wide variety of client ministries, agencies, local governments and local service areas. The policy decisions made by these organizations may have an impact on ministry activities and the revenue the ministry administers. The ministry must remain adaptable to consequent changes to the collectability of accounts receivable.

Voluntary compliance with financial obligations — The willingness of taxpayers to voluntarily meet their financial obligations is the foundation of the tax system in British Columbia. Their willingness is impacted by a wide variety of factors, both within and outside the ministry’s control. A key factor within the ministry’s control is the quality and accessibility of information, education and outreach activities to help British Columbians’ better understand their financial entitlements and obligations. The ministry is expanding online access to information, and providing payment options to make it as easy as possible for individuals and businesses to comply with obligations.

Customer expectations — British Columbians expect their government to provide timely, high quality, responsive, professional customer service, easy access to information, and to engage in mutually beneficial, collaborative relationships. Recognizing this, the ministry has worked to build a relationship with British Columbians based on the fairness and customer service principles formalized in the Taxpayer Fairness and Service Code. The ministry has established consultative processes to provide effective forums to hear directly from customers (for example, the Small Business Roundtable, the Revenue Programs Advisory Committee⁹ and the British Columbia Provincial Sales Tax review consultations).¹⁰

8	Enhancing Economic Competitiveness Through e-Government. Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu. 2003.
9	The Revenue Programs Advisory Committee is a forum for stakeholders’ and taxpayers’ input regarding taxation issues.
10	The websites, http://www.smallbusinessroundtable.ca and http://www.sbr.gov.bc.ca/PSTReview/index.htm, allow members of the public to submit their ideas or comments online to the Small Business Roundtable or to the British Columbia Provincial Sales Tax review consultations. The sites include information about the consultation processes, latest news, and meeting schedules, locations and highlights.

Internal Risks and Opportunities

Demographics and skilled workforce — The ministry’s success is dependent on its highly motivated and skilled employees. Recruitment and retention remain a challenge in a highly competitive market for certain professional positions. The ministry continues to strive to be an employer of choice within the public sector, and is committed to establishing a culture of excellence and learning, encouraging staff development and retention. The current demographics of the workforce show many employees will soon be approaching retirement age. This may result in increased retirement rates, knowledge retention issues and the challenge of recruiting for key organizational positions. This reality requires new strategies for attracting, training and retaining employees.

Citizen-centred service delivery — The ministry continues to focus on initiatives supporting citizen-centred service delivery, reviewing existing and new programs to identify service enhancements. The ministry is working to ensure public information is provided in plain language and is responsive to the diverse information needs of its customers. For example, the ministry is developing information that is specific and targeted to the particular needs of a given industry. The ministry will implement a new citizen-centred regulatory reform process across government that will streamline and simplify access to government programs and services for individuals, small business and industry. For more information on the ministry’s citizen-centred service delivery initiatives, refer to page 33.

Ministry capacity — To enhance business and service capacity, the ministry has entered into an alliance with EDS Advanced Solutions Inc., to leverage private sector investment, expertise and technology, while transferring risk, to improve, consolidate and streamline revenue management processes across government.

Information technology and information management — The ministry’s business relies on technology, and effective strategic planning and capital project selection and management. A key strategic focus of the ministry is the development of technological solutions and tools to meet current and future business needs, and mitigate business risks.

Regulatory streamlining and simplification — The ministry has significantly reduced the amount of information required from taxpayers making it easier, faster and more efficient to deal with government, while increasing ministry efficiency. The result is improved customer service. The ministry will continue to seek further opportunities to reduce regulatory requirements and improve regulatory quality.

Internal operations — The ministry continually reviews its internal operations and adopts best practices in its business administration. Enterprise risk management, strategic planning, project and performance management, and continuous improvement initiatives are key areas of focus to improve internal operations.