VICTORIA, B.C.: The Canadian Taxpayers Federation is slamming the B.C. government for hiking taxes on families while continuing to bury B.C. under more debt and bigger interest charges.

“Premier David Eby’s new budget is going to make life more expensive for B.C. families,” said Carson Binda, B.C. Director for the CTF.  “Eby is hiking income taxes and removing PST exemptions which will leave most families worse off.”

Eby is hiking the lowest income tax bracket. This will cost the average B.C. family with two working parents more than $150 annually.

Eby also hikes income taxes through bracket creep by stopping the indexing of personal income tax brackets to inflation.

Bracket creep is a sneaky tax hike where inflation can automatically bump taxpayers into a higher tax bracket and raise their taxes even though they can’t afford to buy more because prices have gone up.

The government is also removing PST exemptions for various items, including clothing repair equipment and services, cable television and land-line telephones.

“Eby is taking more money from families to pay for record-breaking spending,” Binda said. “At the same time, he’s also planning on recklessly borrowing billions, adding even more debt interest charges to the taxpayer credit card.”

Budget 2026 increases government spending by more than $4 billion this year. The government is also increasing the debt by $30 billion this year. Each British Columbian will owe the equivalent of $32,500 in provincial debt by the end of this year.

“Government debt is just tax hikes pushed off until tomorrow because every dollar borrowed needs to be paid back with interest,” Binda said. “Eby’s tax-and-spend budget is leaving families with bigger costs today and further tax hikes down the line.”