VICTORIA, B.C.: The Canadian Taxpayers Federation released its pre-budget report outlining a path for the provincial government to balance the books and produce a $190-million surplus next year.

“The next provincial budget is a chance for the Eby government to get the fiscal train back on track,” said Carson Binda, B.C. director for the CTF. “All the government has to do is spend like it did in last year’s budget and end corporate welfare.”

The CTF’s pre-budget submission has five key recommendations:

• Balance the budget
• Scrap corporate welfare
• Reduce the Employer Health Tax
• Axe the motor fuel tax
• Review spending to find savings

If Finance Minister Katrine Conroy adopts the CTF’s recommendations, B.C. will have a surplus of $190 million in 2024-25. 

Reducing the EHT and eliminating the provincial fuel tax would save British Columbians almost $4 billion next year. To find these savings and balance the budget, all departments must return spending to the all-time high levels set just last year in 2022-23, and end InBC Investment Corporation’s business subsidies.

“Everyone is tightening their belts right now except for the big-whig bureaucrats in Victoria,” Binda said. “Modest spending restraint and a balanced budget means fewer dollars wasted on provincial debt interest charges, more room to provide tax relief and less debt for future generations to pay back.”

You can read the CTF’s pre-budget submission here.