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B.C. budget cuts are a strategic ‘bang for the buck,’ Clark

Feb 22, 2017 | 12:31 PM

BURNABY, B.C. — Premier Christy Clark says her government considered cutting the provincial sales tax, but decided slashing B.C.’s medical service premiums would keep more money in taxpayers’ pockets.

Clark says a one-per-cent cut in the PST would have saved middle-class taxpayers $200 a year, while a planned 50-per-cent cut to medical premiums announced in Tuesday’s budget will save them up to $900 a year.

She says a sales tax cut would have benefited wealthier people the most because they spend more money on purchased goods, so scaling back medical premiums starting next year delivered the “biggest bang for the buck.”

Clark’s government has promised to eventually eliminate the medical premium, a fee that no other government in Canada imposes.