With the ballots tallied and a new government elected, it’s time for Premier David Eby to put his money where his mouth is and follow through on promised tax-relief for British Columbians.
What matters to families in B.C. is affordability. With both the governing NDP and opposition Conservatives promising a wide range of relief on the campaign trail, there’s no excuse for politicians to dilly-dally on getting us the promised tax cuts.
Make no mistake, British Columbians are struggling right now. One-in-five British Columbians are dealing with food insecurity, according to Food Banks Canada.
If you’re on a bus with 30 people, six of them are worried about going to bed tonight without dinner.
British Columbians pay the most tax in Canada for gasoline and diesel. That makes it more expensive for families to get to school and work. It also makes anything that gets to store shelves on a truck more expensive too.
Both the NDP and Conservatives ran on opposing the provincial carbon tax, which costs British Columbians about $11 per minivan fill-up and $330 on home heating for the average family, based on estimates from the Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF).
But the two parties have different approaches when it comes to axing the carbon tax.
The Conservatives promised to cut both the carbon tax and the second carbon tax that’s buried in fuel standards. Combined, those two cost British Columbians about $23 per fill-up, according to CTF estimates.
The NDP, on the other hand, say they’re going to get rid of the consumer carbon tax and replace it with an industrial carbon tax on businesses and job creators.
If that happens, British Columbians will still pay a carbon tax, it would just be hidden with the costs passed onto consumers. In other words, it would be more of a carbon tax switcheroo than real relief.
And here’s the real kick in the pants, Eby wants to wait until he gets permission from Ottawa before scrapping the carbon tax.
But British Columbians can’t afford to wait for relief.
Other premiers are fighting Trudeau on the carbon tax instead of waiting for his permission to cut it. Alberta Premier Danielle Smith announced that her government is fighting the carbon tax in federal courts and Eby should join in on that fight.
The NDP also promised to exempt an additional $10,000 of individual income from provincial taxes. Eby claims that will save most people $500 per year, or $1,000 for most households.
Tax cuts are needed in B.C., but the government needs to find savings to make the room. Eby can’t just defer those taxes through more debt and borrowing.
Right now, the provincial debt is more than $128.6 billion, which works out to $23,000 per British Columbian. This year, everyone in our province is on the hook for $836 in interest payments on the provincial debt.
Interest charges alone will cost B.C. $4.7 billion this year and that cost will jump to $6.2 billion by 2026.
We can’t afford to spend more money paying interest on the taxpayer credit card, so Eby needs to find savings to make space for the promised tax cuts.
Here are some ideas of where Eby could find savings.
To start, we should ask why we’re paying bureaucrats like the CEO of Powerex $1.6 million per year to run a Crown corporation.
Or why taxpayers are on the hook for $581 million worth of hand-outs to FIFA for the next World Cup in 2026.
We could also find savings on big capital projects like the Surrey-Langley SkyTrain extension, which is already $2 billion over budget.
British Columbians sent a message in the voting booth that we need tax relief. With both the government and opposition on board, it’s time for them to get to work and keep their promises.
Carson Binda is the B.C. director for the Canadian Taxpayers Federation.
