Editor:
On the heels of recent Medical Service Plan premium hikes, the B.C. Liberal party was quick to point out that B.C. has the lowest provincial income taxes in Canada. This is, of course, misleading at best.
Progressive income taxes are just that — progressive. Taxpayers pay a greater percentage of taxes on income as their income increases and their means improve to a fair upper limit. Regressive taxes are flat taxes that require less fortunate citizens to pay a higher proportion of their income to satisfy. Taxes such as MSP premiums, BC Hydro electricity rates or ICBC premiums that in part go directly to government revenue are such taxes.
B.C. is one of only two provinces that charge medical premiums. As much as B.C. offers reduced or free medical premiums at very low-income levels, this is at far too low a level to be considered fair or progressive.
A working single mother with a yearly income of $30,000 pays the same MSP premiums as someone like Jimmy Pattison.
When BC Hydro raises its electricity rates or ICBC increases their premiums that we all have to equally pay, it is in part to cover the hundreds of millions of cash that the B.C. Liberals take yearly from these Crown Corporations, 1.7 billion over the next three years.
The B.C. Liberals are increasingly shifting our tax system away from progressive taxation to regressive taxation and as such are rewarding those with the highest incomes at the expense of those with lower incomes. They recently again lowered progressive income taxes paid by the wealthiest citizens. So what if the B.C. Liberals can boast of lower income taxes if their massive regressive taxes are not counted in the totals.
Neil Edmunds, Sechelt
