On the weekend, this Province column by Mike Smyth detailing tax, fee and levy increases since Premier Christy Clark took office in 2011 got a lot of attention, including this quote from me:

Add it all up and Jordan Bateman of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation figures a typical B.C. family is paying about $3,885 a year more under Christy Clark.

So he’s not buying her “we didn’t raise taxes” spin.

“All these tax, fee and levy increases are going down like a rat sandwich for most taxpayers,” Bateman said.

“It’s choking the B.C. economy as we scrounge to pay more to government. To put that $3,885 tax hike into context: it’s like pulling an extra $75 out of your wallet and handing it over to government every single week of the year.”

Here’s how we calculated it. First, we used Table A3 in the provincial budget appendices, and the Two Income Family of Four - $60,000 scenario. (Average household salary in B.C. Is $70,000 so this is the one closest to the average).

This tells us that total provincial tax, including income, property, sales, fuel, net carbon and MSP went from $6,068 in 2011 to $6,736 in 2014. That's an increase of $668. Then we start adding the stuff not included: 

• If one driver commutes across the Port Mann every day, taking 2 weeks off for vacation, it's $1,500 more per year.
• If they lost access to their home owners grant (because the Liberal changed the eligibility threshold), it's $570 more per year
• If one smokes a pack of cigarettes a day, they'd pay $335 more per year
• If one kid goes to university, they'd pay $328 more per year, due to tuition increases
• If they take two trips a year to visit Grandma in Victoria, they'd pay $88 more per year for BC Ferries
• If they have three cars (one for each adult, one for the kids to share), they'd pay $237 more per year for ICBC
• Hydro - $159 more per year

So add all that together, and that family is paying $3,885 more per year this year, than they did in 2014.

Admittedly, that’s a perfect storm of tax increases. But no matter what scenario you run for an average family, taxes/fees/levies have gone up.