NDP party's leader is calling for the needed funds to be drawn from income tax instead.

VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – The NDP is calling on Premier Christy Clark to eliminate MSP premium collection and follow the system adopted by many other provinces.

That party’s leader is calling for the needed funds to be drawn from income tax instead.

“I’m hopeful that they will completely review the MSP process, integrate it into the tax system as every other province has done, rather than making a regressive play [where] someone making $35,000 gets the same cost as someone making $3 million,” says NDP leader John Horgan.

By doing that, Horgan suggests a more fair system would be created — where those making more money would contribute more to medical than those with more modest incomes.

“I don’t believe that the fix in the long term is to just say that it’s going to be going up as a pro-rated basis on income,” says Horgan. “That should be part and parcel of the income tax system. That’s what every other jurisdiction in Canada does. Why don’t we do it here?”

More than 60,000 people have signed an online petition to abolish MSP.

The premier says she’s trying to find a way to make the collection of those premiums “work for everyone,” with details expected to come ahead of next month’s budget.