Dear editor,
At the all-candidates' meeting April 30, incumbent Don McRae stated that "taxpayers say that they've paid enough."
This belief was certainly not supported by an opinion research study completed by Environics Research in July 2012. They found that British Columbians support higher taxes for major corporations and people with high incomes.
Mr. McRae would be surprised to learn that a majority of those surveyed expressed a willingness to pay a slightly higher share of their income to provincial income tax if it would help to bring about policy changes such as providing more access to home and community care for seniors, creating a $10/day child care program, protecting B.C.'s forests and endangered species and eliminating MSP premiums.
To quote Randy Galawan, one of the co-leaders of the study, British Columbians are "ready for a thoughtful, democratic conversation about how to make the tax system more fair and improve our quality of life."
I hope Mr. McRae and his party are listening.
Kathie Woodley,
Courtenay