B.C. medical services premium cut a strategic ‘bang for the buck,’ Clark says
BURNABY, B.C. — Premier Christy Clark says slashing British Columbia’s health premiums in half gives the “biggest bang for the buck” to taxpayers, but an economist says she should have replaced the fees with a fairer tax to avoid losing $1 billion in revenue.
Clark touted the Liberal government’s fifth consecutive balanced budget on Wednesday at two events in the Vancouver area. B.C.’s economy grew faster than any other province in 2015 and 2016, driven largely by a real estate boom, and Clark said she had a $2-billion surplus to work with.
She told reporters in Burnaby that her government wanted to return the cash to taxpayers. It considered cutting the provincial sales tax, but decided slashing medical service premiums would keep more money in middle-class families’ pockets.
“What I was looking for was a way to deliver a billion dollars in tax relief that would be focused squarely on people who are in the middle class. This is the one that had by far the biggest bang for the buck,” she said.