Here's how the rightwing Conservative/Liberal party of BC does it:   
      
   1.  Take in tax dollars from residents of BC.   
   2.  Don't spend it on programs for those citizens; especially not on health or   
   education; sit on it and call it a 'surplus'.   
   3.  Give major corporations (even foreign ones) major tax cuts.   
   3.  Impose new and higher user fees on the general public.   
   4.  Crow about your government having delivered 'a balanced budget'.   
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   February 17, 2015 - Globe and Mail   
      
   Balanced B.C. budget features higher user fees, little tax relief   
      
      
   Finance Minister Mike de Jong tells legislature to expect $284-million surplus   
   in 2015-16   
      
   The B.C. government will roll out relief for low-income British Columbians   
   this year but for middle class families, the 2015 provincial budget provides   
   no new benefits to offset an array of government fee increases.   
      
   Even against stable economic growth forecasts, Finance Minister Mike de Jong   
   said Tuesday his $46.5-billion budget offers little room for new program   
   spending, with a forecast surplus of $284-million.   
      
   "Let me emphasize that we remain absolutely committed to continuing the fiscal   
   discipline that got us here," he said in a budget speech that leaned heavily   
   on hockey analogies and did not stint on bragging about the province's   
   economic health.   "The    
   once-mighty Alberta economy is in a kind of freefall," Mr. de Jong noted.    
   "Alone among the provinces, B.C. will likely be the only jurisdiction to table   
   a balanced budget for 2015."   
      
   The budget starkly shows a dramatic shift in the nature of the B.C. economy:   
   Natural resource revenues that ten years ago delivered more than 12 per cent   
   of government revenues will this year produce closer to 6 per cent. Mr. de   
   Jong credited a    
   diversified economy for offsetting those losses.   
      
   He said continued caution is warranted. "Commodity prices generally have   
   deteriorated over the past six months.  And we have no intention of being   
   caught out - like some jurisdictions - and seeing our fiscal surplus turn into   
   a deficit."   
      
   He added that the global economic picture that largely shapes the B.C. economy   
   is still fragile.  "We cannot overstate the importance of good old-fashioned   
   prudent fiscal management."   
      
   As expected, the government did eliminate its policy to claw back   
   child-support payments to single parents on income assistance, a measure that   
   is expected to return roughly $18-million to the pockets of some of the   
   province's most needy families.  And,    
   as promised, the surcharge on high-income earners, imposed in the    
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   2013 budget, will be lifted on Jan. 1, a $51-milion reduction. (in revenue).   
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   "What's wrong with this budget is it gives more money to the top two per cent   
   and no money to the hundreds of thousands of people who work at minimum wage   
   or just slightly above - those people are working full time and living in   
   poverty," said Irene    
   Lanzinger, president of the B.C. Federation of Labour.   
      
   But Jock Finlayson of the Business Council of B.C. said the government's   
   management on the spending side has helped put the province on good footing,   
   and applauded the "cautious" assumptions about revenues.    
      
   The budget included a series of measures that target the province's most   
   vulnerable: There is more money for Community Living B.C., income assistance,   
   and a low income tax credit has been expanded.  But for the majority of   
   middle-income earners there is    
   only one new tax change available - families who already claim a child fitness   
   credit can claim sports equipment, a measure that will be worth an additional   
   $12 per child.   
      
   Meanwhile, revenue growth is expected to average 3.4 per cent each year for   
   fees and licences - mostly due to increases to Medical Services Plan premium   
   rates and    
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   highest post-secondary fees.   As well, Crown-owned B.C. Ferries, B.C. Hydro   
   and    
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   ICBC are forecast to raise rates.   
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   Overall, spending increasing by 2.5 per cent while revenue grows by 2.7 per   
   cent. Health care spending continues to be the "monster" demand of the budget,   
   Mr. de Jong said, even though the rate of increase has slowed.   
      
   "We have achieved what few provinces have done and fewer pundits and critics   
   thought we could do: we've reduced the growth rate of health care spending to   
   an annual average of 2.9 per cent," the minister said.   
   ____________________   
      
   [Bring your own insulin, cortisone, painkillers, braces, crutches and   
   wheelchairs when you undergo hospital procedures.  And be ready to pay for an   
   ambulance ride if you're really ill.)   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)