To the editor:
The Liberal government indicates B.C. has the lowest personal taxes in Canada for wage earners under $120,000.
What they are not telling us is that this is only true for single incomes. Should your family consist of a single wage earner, a spouse and children the result is quite different if you look at the taxes minus the tax credit exemptions—or what we really pay.
If we compare the taxes between Alberta and B.C. we find the personal tax credit exemptions to be $17,282 (Alta) $11,354 (B.C.) and for dependents $17,282 (Alta) and $9,964 (B.C.).
The percentage of these values you can claim in Alberta is 10 per cent and only 5.06 per cent in B.C.
It is these higher personal exemptions and per cent you can claim that makes a big difference in the amount that you must pay.
Should your income be $70,000 with two exemptions (spouse and one child) you would pay $1,014 less in Alberta. Same income but one additional child would net a difference of $2,238 less tax paid in Alberta.
These numbers along with how they were calculated were sent to the Office of the Premier asking for an explanation. This was not provided.
While the Liberals, in their election promises, are committing to no increase in personal taxes for five years, voters must also be aware what numbers are being used and how the comparisons are being made.
In this case ‘Families First’ means they pay more
T. Kinsman,
West Kelowna
