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Mr. de Jong is counting on average revenue increases of 3% annually over the next three years, and expenditure increases of only 2.2% per year. “That difference is what allows us to bank upon and book some additional revenue to help close the gap,” he told reporters on Tuesday, a few hours before tabling his budget in the legislature.

The biggest source of new money is Mr. de Jong’s proposed sale of surplus properties owned by the province. These include parking lots and a vacant school on Vancouver Island. The government hopes to recoup $625-million on their sale. More than half of that amount is already booked for the coming fiscal year.

Without the proposed property sales, the government would not balance its fiscal 2013/14 budget, let alone show a surplus.

Additional revenue growth would come from increasing the general corporate tax rate to 11%, from the current rate of 10%. The increase was discussed in last year’s provincial budget, but only as a possible measure that would not take effect until April 2014.

Mr. de Jong said Tuesday that he would have preferred not to introduce the tax increase now, but the measure is expected to put an additional $200-million a year into government coffers. The NDP has promised to go even further and increase the corporate tax rate to 12%.

The surprise of this year’s budget is a personal tax rate increase, the first one proposed in B.C. since the Liberal party formed government in 2001. It would impact British Columbians with annual salaries of at least $150,000, and would take effect April 1. The rate for high income earners would move from 14.7% to 16.8%, still the lowest among Canadian provinces; proposing it now, however, could cost the Liberals the support of some affluent voters.