Eby’s New Tax on the Wealthy Would Make BC Highest Tax Jurisdiction in OECD: Economist

B.C. NDP Leader David Eby speaks during a provincial election campaign announcement at the DP World Fairview Container Terminal at port, in Prince Rupert, B.C., on Sept. 28, 2026. The Canadian Press/Darryl Dyck

B.C. NDP Leader David Eby’s proposed income tax increases would raise the province’s top marginal tax rate to 24.5 percent, the highest since 1981, and give B.C. the highest provincial top marginal tax rate in Canada, according to economist Trevor Tombe.

Combined with federal taxes, the changes would give B.C. a top personal marginal tax rate of 57.5 percent.

“This would raise BC to the highest income tax rate since 1981, and make the province (by a decent margin) the highest tax rate jurisdiction in Canada,” Tombe wrote Oct. 5 on X. “The gap with Alberta would be back at 1990s levels.”

Tombe also said the rate would be the highest in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and among the highest in the world.

Eby said on Oct. 4 that his party would raise B.C.’s top two provincial income tax rates by two percentage points each and create a new bracket for taxable income above $1 million. The provincial tax rate on income between $190,405 and $265,545 would rise from 16.8 percent to 18.8 percent, and the rate on income between $265,545 and $1 million would rise from 20.5 percent to 22.5 percent.

The B.C. NDP Leader also said his party will put in place a new 24.5 percent tax rate on incomes in excess of $1 million. The top federal rate of 33 percent would also apply to those earners.

“We cheer for them, we want them to be successful, and it’s also right to ask people, who earn a little bit more to pitch-in in a moment like this, when people across the province need those strong public services,” Eby said during a campaign stop Oct. 4 in Comox, B.C.

As with existing tax brackets, the proposed higher rates would apply only to the portion of an individual’s income that falls within each bracket, not to their entire income.

The B.C. NDP projects the changes, which would take effect for the 2027 tax year, would raise $1 billion annually by the 2028-29 fiscal year.

Tax specialist Kim Moody noted on social media that if the proposed tax hikes were implemented “the combined federal/B.C. top marginal rate would become an astonishing 57.5%.”

The B.C. Conservatives have focused focused their opposition to the proposals around health-care concerns in the province, with B.C. Conservative interim leader Lorne Doerkson saying the tax hikes would “drive doctors out of BC, at a time when we desperately need more.”

“323,000 British Columbians are looking for a family doctor right now and can’t find one. Doctors already get recruited to Alberta and the States every week. Why would we give them another reason to go?” he said on social media on Oct. 5.

The B.C. Conservatives have vowed not to raise any taxes if they take power following the Oct. 24 provincial election.

Election Issues

With roughly three weeks until B.C.’s election, cost-of-living issues have dominated the race.

A recent Ipsos poll. released Oct. 1, found that cost of living and inflation were the top issue for 56 percent of B.C. voters, followed by health care at 39 percent, and housing affordability and availability at 31 percent.

The same Ipsos poll, conducted from Sept. 25 to 29, found the B.C. Conservatives led in voter intentions with 42 percent support, B.C. NDP at 40 percent, B.C. Green Party at 10 percent, OneBC at 3 percent, CentreBC at 3 percent, and others at 2 percent.

It described the results as a statistical tie due to the poll’s margin of error of 3.7 percent.

A survey conducted by Pollara Sept. 23 to 30 found the B.C. NDP and B.C. Conservatives tied at 38 percent, followed by the B.C Greens at 13 percent, OneBC at 5 percent, CentreBC at 4 percent, and others at 2 percent.