News that MSP premiums will be halved in 2018 has come as a relief to some Kelowna residents.
Angela Rafter moved to B.C. with her husband in 2015, and the $136 a month bill for medical care they got was burdensome, considering the already high cost of living.
“We had just moved and were making just over minimum wage then,” said Rafter, adding that their household income was somewhere in the area of $36,000 at the time.
“Paying for food and gas at that rate was a challenge… It was tough. That was equal to our grocery bill for a fortnight.”
Now the couple has better footing, earns more and pays more for MSP. The reduction, however, is still “amazing.”
If only they could find a family doctor in Kelowna, she said, it would be even better.
For the pressure being taken off middle income families, the Canadian Taxpayers Federation praised Finance Minister Michael de Jong’s 2017-18 BC budget.
The CTF has fought the MSP tax for years, arguing that it was unfair, expensive to collect, and an unnecessary burden on BC taxpayers and small businesses.
The cut to premiums means a family with two kids making $45,000 to $120,000 per year will save $900 in taxes.
“For a middle class family, $75 a month is going to be a big help,” said Jordan Bateman, CTF BC Director. “This is the signature tax cut of Christy Clark’s six years as premier – in fact, it’s the first true, broad-based provincial tax cut we’ve seen since 2007.”
Premier Christy Clark is saying the cut is the first step to eliminating MSP altogether in the coming years.
“We are taking step one by cutting it by 50 per cent, step two will be elimination and we will eliminate MSP as the economy grows,” said Clark when talking budget in Burnaby Tuesday. “I think the MSP is outdated, it’s unprogressive, it’s unfair and no one else in the country does it.”
While there was speculation that the province would lower PST by one per cent instead of cutting MSP, Clark was adamant that cutting medical premiums would provide better savings for middle-class British Columbians.
“It’s a much much bigger benefit and it’s much more concentrated in the middle class, ” said Clark. “A PST class benefits everybody but [benefits] the wealthiest the most because the wealthiest spend more money on purchased goods.”
The premier said the province couldn’t afford the extra $1.4 billion it would cost to cut medical premiums entirely.
—With files from Black Press digital
