Bang for the buck: Clark

Photo: The Canadian Press

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.

While Clark calls the unpopular premium "outdated, unprogressive and unfair," she wouldn't provide a timeline for its elimination, adding that the sooner the economy grows, the sooner it will be eliminated.

Asked at a news conference about a decade-long freeze on welfare rates, Clark says the government is focused on getting people on social assistance back to work.