As B.C.’s election campaign ramps up, the NDP, Greens and Conservatives propose competing tax plans while not presenting a detailed approach to a projected $13.8-billion deficit and $183-billion debt.
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British Columbia’s election campaign is intensifying around competing tax proposals, but party platforms are not focused on laying out “the actual hard work” of reducing a projected $13.8-billion deficit and $183-billion debt, according to economists quoted in the campaign debate.
The interest costs on the annual debt—accumulated deficits—are projected at $6.4 billion, or $1,127 per British Columbian each year, according to figures cited from the Fraser Institute.
B.C. Conservative Leader Lorne Doerkson has pledged no new taxes and said he would raise the B.C. basic personal tax exemption to $32,000 from $13,216, a change the party says could save taxpayers up to $1,000 a year.
An economist quoted in the coverage, Justin Wiltshire of the University of Victoria, said that proposal would cost an estimated $3 billion a year and argued it would worsen the deficit and increase the share of tax revenue going toward paying interest on debt.
Wiltshire also said the Conservatives’ approach could contribute to higher interest rates on B.C.’s debt through further credit rating downgrades, calling it “bad policy.”
Marc Lee, a senior economist with the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, said the Conservatives’ tax-cut plan “moves the deficit completely in the wrong direction,” estimating it would cost between $2 billion and $4 billion.
Lee said running deficits can be part of normal fiscal policy when the economy is down, pointing to factors such as a U.S.-led trade war, a downturn in housing and stalled population growth, but he argued the government cannot sustain deficits year after year in the same way.
Lee said the parties are presenting commitments that do not actually reduce the deficit, while crediting the NDP with at least tabling a plan that includes an upper-income tax increase.
NDP Leader David Eby has pledged a temporary reduction of the provincial motor fuel tax on both gasoline and diesel by 10 cents per litre and said the party would bring in a new tax bracket for people making more than $1 million, along with a two-percentage-point hike on the two highest income brackets starting at about $190,000.
Eby said the NDP’s approach is designed “so we can make it possible for everyone to get ahead,” framing it as asking those at the top to pitch in more when people are struggling.
The NDP said its tax plan would generate up to $1 billion in new revenue annually, and the reporting states the Conservatives would have to cut health and education to pay for their proposal.
The Conservatives counter that the NDP’s proposed taxes would drive away doctors needed for the province.
The reporting also states the B.C. Greens, led in the campaign by Emily Lowan, are proposing a one-time “fair share tax” on extreme wealth, beginning at five per cent on net wealth above $50 million, 10 per cent above $100 million and 20 per cent above $1 billion.
Lowan said increasing income taxes “is missing the point” because the ultra-wealthy do not “get rich on paycheques,” arguing instead that their wealth grows through stocks and real estate.
The Greens estimate their wealth tax would generate $22 billion in annual revenue, and Lowan said the plan aims to ensure British Columbians can afford a “safe and dignified life.”
The coverage also highlighted that Wiltshire pointed to public sector compensation as a key area for deficit reduction, saying it has grown by more than 50 per cent and that related spending has increased by roughly 100 per cent since 2017.
He said the “only way” to address the deficit would be to “meaningfully cut” total spending on public sector compensation, described in the reporting as nearly 60 per cent of the budget, about $56 billion for around 600,000 employees.
The NDP said in this year’s budget it would cut 15,000 positions over three years, but Wiltshire argued that is a small change and that a much larger reduction would be needed over a longer period.
The reporting further notes that the NDP has promised to freeze ICBC vehicle insurance rates for another three years for a total of 10 years and to create additional health-care capacity, including 20 new urgent and primary care clinics or community health centres, 1,000 new training seats, eight new MRI machines and 10 new CT scanners, as well as funding for long-term seniors’ care projects and to make the shingles vaccine free for people age 50 and older.
Meanwhile, Doerkson said the Conservatives would eliminate the PST on some items, hire up to 1,000 new police officers, create a $50-million emergency fund for rural emergency room closures, and replace ICBC’s no-fault model with a hybrid framework open to private competition, which could raise vehicle insurance rates.
David Black, a political scientist at Royal Roads University, said the campaign has been “messy” in terms of organization, logistics and messaging, describing a “piling up” of affordability-related promises that he said could be difficult for voters to track.
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