BC United promises biggest tax cut in province’s history

“I keep running into people, seniors, for example, that are literally making decisions not to order food because they have to pay for their medical prescriptions,” Falcon said.

The most recent poll statistics, provided by Leger

This announcement comes amid a continued plummet in the polls for the BC United Party, as it now sits at 10%, down from 18% in May of 2024. Meanwhile, the BC Conservative Party continues to surge, sitting only 3% behind the ruling BC NDP Party.

“Kevin Falcon is looking to grab the attention of B.C. voters right now on the eve of the B.C. election, and he wants people to start looking at the B United platform in a way that they haven’t been basically in the last year,” said College of New Caledonia Political Science Instructor Chris Beach.

While the announcement is undoubtedly a big one, will it be enough to sway the votes in BC United’s favour? Beach doesn’t think so, but notes this is a drastic proposal so he can’t rule the possibility out that BC United could make up ground.

“If this is a hockey game, they’re down three games in a best of seven, and it’s the third period in that fourth game. They’re swinging for the fences, and there’s not much to lose,” Beach said.

Promising lower taxes is one of the most wellknown ways to gain popularity in politics, but it also raises the additional question of the money will be made up. This tax cut would lower the province’s tax revenue by about 5.4 billion dollars, but Falcon says he doesn’t expect this to be a huge issue, as he says the BC NDP are already overspending without results, so he believes cutting down on spending shouldn’t have a significant impact on government operations.

“Just in their (BC NDP) last budget, they increased spending by 12%, over $10 billion. And yet it’s tied to the worst health care system we’ve ever seen. No one knows that better than the North, where we’ve seen over 200 emergency room shutdowns in Interior Northern Health just this year alone. So we’re spending all this money and getting the worst results,” Falcon said.

“The argument is that there would be more economic activity, there would be more jobs, and people would be spending more. And that would offset the roughly $5.4 billion that would be taken out of the provincial coffers by eliminating provincial income tax on the first 50,000,” Beach added, when speaking on how the money lost could potentially be made up.

It’s too early to say how the announcement will impact voter opinions, but with just two months left until the election it’s likely this is just one of many large announcements the province can expect before it’s time to vote.

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by Tommy Osborne

BC United promises biggest tax cut in province’s history

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