Filing your taxes this month? Your money isn’t going where you think.

What’s worse than big money going to B.C.’s politicians to influence decision making? How about money from ordinary taxpayers — you and I — going back to those big donors?

As the fastest gun in the Wild West, Premier Clark has been holding B.C. taxpayers hostage — claiming if she brings in laws to rein in our out-of-control political donation system, she will have to take the money from taxpayers instead. Which is (a) untrue, she could just spend less on her campaign, and (b) already happening. B.C. taxpayers already subsidize political contributions in many ways.

Here’s the most obvious one: political contributions can be claimed on a donor’s taxes. All those cocktail soirees and golf tournament tickets are  eligible for up to a $500 tax credit. This includes corporate donors as well.

Those donations spent to get the Trans Mountain pipeline approved? Taxpayers may have refunded more than $27,000 back to Kinder Morgan and friends. The trophy hunter lobby ran us more than $6,800. And think about this the next time you drink the water in Likely, B.C. — we gave Imperial Metals, along with its subsidiary Mount Polley Mining (yep, that one), $7,300 back on their taxes.

In 2016 alone, B.C. taxpayers potentially refunded more than $632,000 to party donors.

The political donation tax credit system has been going on since 1979 ––  how much has this cost taxpayers over the past 38 years? What other nefarious industries have been subsidized through our hard-earned dollars? When are we going to stand up and demand better from our decision-makers?