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“This issue of what will happen to the surplus is going to be a high point of debate in the election and people will be legitimately on either side of it, but I just don’t believe government should keep that money if we’re not using it,” she said.

“I think the question for people will be … John Horgan’s plan which will raise taxes and give government more money to spend on your behalf, and our plan which will be to lower taxes put more money in people’s pockets and say we trust you to figure out how to spend that money better than we can.”

Clark said she’s looking at “how to lighten the burden” of overall taxes. When asked if she’s considering cuts to personal income tax rates, Clark said: “I’m talking theoretically about a lot of different possibilities at the moment so you have to stay tuned on that.”

Personal income taxes were last reduced in 2008, when B.C. used carbon tax revenue to lower rates by five per cent for the bottom two income brackets. The government often touts its personal income tax level as the lowest among provinces for people earning up to $122,000.

The premier specifically raised the issue of the Medical Service Plan premiums, saying Horgan’s proposal to remove the premiums is a “shell game” that will result in a disguised income tax hike.

“I don’t think when people say they want to get rid of MSP they mean they want to pay it but call it a tax. What they mean is they don’t want to pay it. We have more to do on MSP, but our plan has been to excuse as many people as possible from paying it not to make them pay in a different way.”