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Horgan’s NDP government also hiked the carbon tax to $35 per tonne, making heating, transportation and other energy-intensive products more expensive. That would hurt less if the revenues were returned as general personal and corporate tax rate cuts, as the B.C. government had always promised it would do in the past (although even Liberal governments broke that vow and used the revenues to fund boutique tax credits). B.C. made it clear in last year’s budget that its not even pretending to return the money anymore: The carbon tax is officially just another tax grab.

B.C. did carry out its promise to eliminate health premiums, but that will be largely offset by a new payroll tax on employers. The public will think they’re getting tax relief, but won’t realize they’ll pay for it as the employer’s payroll tax turns into higher prices or smaller paycheques. Meanwhile, tobacco taxes are up. Fuel taxes are up. And there’s a new tax hike on luxury cars, no matter if they’re gas-guzzlers or electric.

With so much focus on Horgan’s opposition to Alberta pipelines, the NDP government might have thought the public wouldn’t notice all the tax increases. It helps, also, that they’ve mostly targeted a minority of better-off residents or have made the tax less visible by applying it to businesses. But eventually, all chickens come home to roost. Skilled workers will look at high housing costs and taxes in Vancouver as less attractive than living in more affordable markets. Businesses unable to compete will look elsewhere to locate at least some of their operations.

The last time B.C. went through years of tax hikes in the 1990s, the share of investment the province enjoyed compared with the rest of Canada eventually fell from 16 per cent in 1994 to 12 per cent in 2011 as it stopped being competitive, while Alberta’s rose from 16 to nearly 27 per cent over the same period. B.C. also saw its standard of living fall to no better than the national average. If the NDP keeps the taxes coming, the province will have more troubles than a pipeline could hold.

• Jack M. Mintz is the president’s fellow at the University of Calgary’s School of Public Policy.