Lorne Doerkson's B.C. Conservatives promise $1,000 annual income tax cut | Daily Hive

Lorne Doerkson's B.C. Conservatives promise $1,000 annual income tax cut by raising tax-free amount

Lorne Doerkson, Oct. 8, 2026. (Conservative Party of British Columbia)

The Conservative Party of British Columbia is promising to reduce provincial income taxes by about $1,000 annually for eligible British Columbians through a major increase in the amount people can earn before paying provincial income tax.

Party leader Lorne Doerkson announced the proposal today, promising a Conservative government — if elected during the provincial general election on Saturday, Oct. 24, a week after the civic elections on Saturday, Oct. 17 — would increase the provincial government’s basic personal amount from $13,216 to $32,000. This would more than double the existing amount.

Today’s press conference was held inside a grocery store in Surrey, in an apparent jab at the BC NDP’s press conference last week held outside a grocery store on capping prices for essential grocery items.

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Doerkson says the proposal is a response to household financial pressures and criticized the BC NDP’s recent changes that have increased provincial income taxes.

“Over the last decade, the NDP has raised taxes more than 40 times, and after promising to tax the rich, they instead raise taxes on people who can least afford it. The first announcement of the NDP’s campaign was, of course, a new tax, and earlier this week they announced that they were going to increase taxes on doctors. The NDP don’t understand that you can’t tax British Columbians out of this affordability crisis, especially when the NDP are incapable of using this tax money efficiently,” said Doerkson.

“British Columbians have never paid more in tax, gotten less in return, and today my message to British Columbia is that help is on the way. As I announced with our first policy, a new Conservative government will never raise your taxes. But, folks, over the past few weeks, it’s become very obvious to me that that is not enough.”

Under the scheme, people earning above approximately $40,000 annually would receive the full savings. For a family with both partners qualifying, the combined reduction would total about $2,000 annually, equivalent to roughly $167 per month.

The Conservatives claim their proposed basic personal amount would be the largest in Canada. Doerkson highlighted that someone working full-time on minimum wage would not have to pay any provincial taxes at all.

The basic personal amount is used to calculate a tax credit that reduces provincial income tax bills. Increasing it would help people who earn above the new threshold, too, by reducing the tax they owe.

The actual savings would depend on a person’s taxable income and other credits. Under the existing system, this is a non-refundable credit, meaning it can reduce provincial income tax to zero, but any unused portion is not paid out. Someone who already pays no provincial income tax would therefore receive no direct savings from increasing this credit alone.

When asked about how the provincial government would recalibrate its budget to accommodate lower income tax revenues, given that it is currently running major annual deficits, the Conservative leader says it would be accomplished by a combination of cuts and new economic activity.

“The reality is we have to supercharge the economy in British Columbia and get things going because that is our revenue. That is how we fund everything in this province. I am absolutely committed to keeping those frontline services intact and improving on them, but we can’t do that if we continue to just simply get all of our revenue from the residents through taxation, which has exactly been the regime under David Eby,” said Doerkson.

“We have to stop that downward pressure on our residents, and we have to grow an economy through different things. We have an opportunity, obviously, to grow the LNG business in this province. We’ve obviously introduced a plan to do that. But we’re very excited to improve an infrastructure that, frankly, exists already in our forest industry and also strengthen mining and other things.”

Under the BC NDP-led provincial government, the lowest provincial income tax rate increased from 5.06 per cent to 5.6 per cent for the 2026 tax year. However, the provincial budget also increased a separate tax reduction credit for people with lower incomes. Eby’s administration asserted that more than 40 per cent of taxpayers would see savings when that change was taken into account, despite the higher rate.

Controversially, Eby’s 2026 provincial budget also suspended annual inflation adjustments to provincial income tax brackets and basic non-refundable credits from 2027 through 2030. When those thresholds remain fixed, people whose wages rise with inflation can pay more tax even if their purchasing power does not improve.

The Conservative announcement follows Eby’s Oct. 4 platform announcement to increase taxes on higher incomes, including raising the rates on the two highest existing brackets by two per cent and adding a new bracket for income exceeding $1 million. Under the BC NDP proposal, the increases would apply to portions of taxable income above $190,405. The BC NDP notes that approximately 96 per cent of British Columbians would face no increase under that proposal, which it projects would eventually generate about $1 billion annually for improved healthcare and affordability measures.

The Conservatives and other critics have charged that the BC NDP’s proposed scheme would drive out more professionals from the province, including much-needed physicians.

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