Kris Sims is the British Columbia Director and Devin Drover is the General Counsel of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation.Premier David Eby wants British Columbians to pay higher taxes because he spends too much money.Eby is promising to raise income taxes on everyone earning more than $190,404 if he wins the October 24 election. The second-highest tax bracket would jump from 16.8% to 18.8%. The top rate would climb from 20.5% to 22.5%. And a new bracket would take 24.5% of every dollar earned over $1 million.Stack that on top of federal income taxes, and top earners in BC would hand governments 57.5 cents of every new dollar they earn. That would be the highest top income tax rate in Canada.But here’s the first problem: the people Eby is targeting don’t have to stay put.Economists studied what happens when Canadian provinces hike taxes on top earners. Their answer: the tax base shrinks as high earners shift income or leave, and provinces lose between 29% and 94% of the revenue they expected to collect.A review of the international evidence reached the same conclusion: high earners will pick and choose where they live while considering the tax rates in the area.Doctors are no exception.When Ottawa hiked capital gains taxes in 2024, the Canadian Medical Association warned the move would hurt physician recruitment and retention, saying “the risk of already over-stretched physicians leaving the profession or reducing their hours in response to heightened taxation is real.”.The British Columbia government is trying to recruit doctors. Eby’s plan hands every one of them a reason to pick Alberta instead.Eby says it’s only fair “to ask those at the top to pitch in a bit more.”But here’s the second problem: in the province’s biggest city, Vancouver, $190,000 doesn’t exactly make you the Monopoly Man.It’s a good salary, but it doesn’t even get you a house in Vancouver.A household needs an income of $310,307 to qualify for a mortgage on a typical Vancouver house, according to National Bank.Eby’s “rich people” tax hike kicks in nearly $120,000 below that. Anyone trying to carry that mortgage on a single income would get slapped with a higher tax rate.That’s not taxing yacht money. That’s taxing people who are trying to achieve the basics of home ownership.But British Columbians aren’t struggling because surgeons, engineers, and entrepreneurs pay too little tax. They’re struggling because their government spends too much..Eby raised taxes in this year’s budget and still borrowed $13 billion. It doesn’t matter how much extra cash the government rakes in if it keeps wasting money.And this reckless spending is hurting BC’s ability to even borrow money.Moody’s downgraded BC’s credit rating from Aa1 to Aa2, with a negative outlook.Moody’s cited “a marked deterioration in the province's credit fundamentals” to justify the downgrade. “This deterioration is driven by continued growth in operating and capital spending, resulting in large, structural deficits,” it said.Those annual deficits are dumped into the provincial debt bucket, making it worse every year.BC’s debt is projected to hit $189 billion this fiscal year, with the interest payments on the debt costing taxpayers about $6.3 billion. That’s the equivalent of building six brand-new hospitals, but then burning them all down before anyone can use them.And look at where the money goes.In February, Eby announced a $400-million corporate welfare slush fund. His CleanBC Industry Fund handed $17 million to Shell Canada and $7.3 million to Lafarge. If Eby needs money for healthcare, he can stop cutting cheques to multinational corporations before reaching deeper into taxpayers’ pockets.The NDP says this tax hike will bring in $1 billion a year by 2028. The Canadian evidence says much of that money will never show up. What will show up are the moving trucks, carrying the doctors, dentists, builders, and job creators BC needs most.Eby should scrap this tax hike plan, cut the waste, and get spending under control instead.Kris Sims is the British Columbia Director and Devin Drover is the General Counsel of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation.
