Kamloops residents will feel impact of budget taking aim at seniors, low income earners, Milobar says

Pocketbooks to be pinched

Kamloops residents can expect to feel their pocketbooks pinched by changes to income and sales taxes in the newly-released provincial budget, according to a Kamloops MLA.

Kamloops-Centre MLA Peter Milobar, finance critic for the Official Opposition B.C. Conservatives, delivered the first response to the budget after Finance Minister Brenda Bailey laid out the 2026-27 financial picture.

In his speech, Milobar slammed the NDP government for the growing deficit, income tax bracket freezes and new applications for provincial sales tax, saying those changes would hurt seniors, families and small businesses.

Milobar told Castanet he thinks Kamloops residents will most likely feel the impacts of changes to taxes laid out in the budget, as these changes will impact low income earners and seniors living on pensions the hardest.

Milobar said the province is looking to claw some $1.1 billion in taxes that will disproportionately burden low income earners.

“What surprised me the most was how cruel this budget actually is to seniors and hard-working households and small businesses,” said the former Kamloops mayor.

“The higher income bracket people will not notice these tax changes one bit, but the smaller, lower income people are going to bear the brunt of the large portion of that extra $1.1 billion worth of income tax getting collected.”

In his speech, Milobar highlighted that under the new budget, PST will now be charged on basic cable packages, landlines and even yarn — items seniors are stereotypically known to have.

He said this change stands to cull about $100 million in tax revenue.

Milobar also noted changes to the property tax deferment program, which has gone from a 2.9 per cent interest rate to a 6.9 per cent interest rate as a change in the budget targets seniors.

Bailey said in the Legislature that the property tax deferment program is being altered to help those who need it most, and the vast majority of homeowners see no change.

Milobar said the first income tax bracket in the budget is increasing from 5.06 per cent to 5.6 per cent on the first $50,000, which he said will bring in about $500 million in extra revenue.

Bailey said the government will offset the half a percentage point of extra costs for lower income earners by increasing the B.C. tax reduction credit.

According to the province, 60 per cent of tax filers will face higher bills, with the average being a $76 hike, from the lowest bracket is being increased by 0.54 per cent.
Bailey said 40 per cent of taxpayers will see a tax saving in 2026 and the lowest earners “will come out ahead.”

Milobar also said income tax brackets are being frozen this year, and when the minimum wage increases in June, that should yield another $600 million.

The finance critic also noted the budget is now applying PST on accounting, bookkeeping and security services which will hurt small businesses, particularly those trying to curb shoplifting.

“At a time that businesses are pleading for help around crime and safety and cost pressures, this government has decided to essentially shoplift an extra $550 million out of small businesses in the form of PST changes,” Milobar said in the Legislature.

According to the 2021 census, about 20 per cent of the Kamloops population is aged 65 and older. The median household income was $88,000.

Results matter

Milobar also criticized the province for a deficit that’s ballooned to a projected record $13.3 billion this next fiscal year, compared with an updated forecast for the current year of $9.6 billion.

The deficit is now projected to be reduced to $11.4 billion by 2028-29 whereas, by this time last year, in last year's budget, the deficit was projected to come down to about $10.2 billion.

“I think they've proven over the last few years that years two and three of these fiscal plans mean nothing. They're completely irrelevant, because they don't even come close to hitting those numbers,” Milobar told Castanet Kamloops.

Revenues in this year’s budget are only down about $200 million from last year’s projection, Milobar said.

In her presentation, Bailey noted tariffs from the U.S., which were enacted at about this time last year, sparked volatile economic conditions around the world, including in B.C.

—with files from the Canadian Press