2014 Gas/Property Tax Whining

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Gerry
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Location: Surrey, BC

Sir Purrcival wrote:
Gerry wrote:
jcalhoun wrote:Hey all,

Actually, Know it all, this is not an insignificant cost to the individual. 23.oo in average additional property taxes a year is not that much, but the .02cents a litre really begins to add up.

My father keeps track of everything, and writes down everything, so I asked him about his gas usage in 2010. "Just a minute..." and then he starts reading from the stats sheet.

My father owns a Ford Ranger pickup truck. It's a V6, but still one of the more economical models on the market. His daily commute from Poco to Surrey was 23.6 km. That's not outrageous, nor is his vehicle. In 2010 he used 2147.187 liters of fuel. That's an additional 43.oo dollars in taxation a year. With the property tax, that's $66.oo. That's one dollar more than a redzone ticket to a Lions game.

Now is that $66.oo going to break him, or anyone? No, certainly not. But it's important to point out that he won't be getting anything for that increased taxation, and nor will most people. Essentially our more enlightened overlords have decided to take the equivalent of a good Lions' ticket out of the average person's pocket. In tough economic times, these things really begin to add up. And it's going to hurt the Lions.

Just wait until next year when we get to tack on an additional $3.oo-6.oo each way for each trip across the new Port Mann bridge.

Anyway....

Cheers,

James
It's not correct to say that your father gets nothing for the increased taxation. He gets the same thing I get:

Less vehicles on the road.

Better bus service throughout the lower mainland.

Cleaner air.

I use Skytrain very infrequently, but I do benefit by it because if all the people who used it were to drive, the roads would be a bigger mess than they are now.
All of those are questionable.

1. better bus service. Do you really believe that is going to happen. Next time transit goes on strike or negotiates a higher wage for drivers and the like, there will go some of this newly acquired revenue. They have been trying for "better" bus service for decades, do most people think they have been successful? I would highly doubt it.

2. Less vehicles - as population goes up, so do the number of vehicles on the road. Transit may stem that tide a little but do you really think the total number of cars on the road are going to lessen in the next decade? Again, highly doubtful. If that was the case, then opponents to the improvement of Port Mann wouldn't be talking about saturation in 20 years after completion.

3. Cleaner air. Again doubtful. for reason 2 but don't forget that a diesel buses also put pollutants into the atmosphere as well. The only way we are going to get cleaner air is if we stop burning fossil fuels. Don't see that happening anytime soon.

Instead of this Port Mann extension, the better step would have been to put ground based light rail down the centre of the Freeway with diversions to population centres. It would have been cheap and had a lot more scaling ability. The need to start doing this all over the lower mainland. Recently tried out the Portland system and it was clean, efficient and much nicer than the bus. We had this in the 20's, but short sighted politicians and the like have pissed all the potential away in favour of cars and buses. It is going to cost us all big time so if they are going to claw more of our hard earned money away, then I would like some sense that it is going to be used correctly. Buying more buses isn't the answer either so far as I am concerned. They are expensive, inefficient and subject to the same pains that drivers have to deal with when traffic is heavy.
1. Bus service is better than it used to be and the extra 2 cents a litre supposedly will make it better yet. It's true that an increase in population will "eat up" some of that improvement, but that's to be expected, is it not?

2. I thought it would be understood that by "less vehicles" I meant less vehicles than otherwise. Of course there will be more if there is an increase in population that makes up for the increase in transit and then surpasses that. It cannot be argued that there would be the same number of vehicles on the road tomorrow if Skytrain and the buses were to disappear overnight.

3. And again.... cleaner air than we would have without public transit. I'm not a big fan of the diesel buses, and no form of transit, public or otherwise, is completely "clean", but obviously some forms are cleaner than others. A bus full of people is cleaner than a half full bus or a single car, for instance.
Enough is enough.
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Robbie
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Be prepared for yet another property tax hike in 2014. :violin:

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-c ... -1.1894132
The City of Vancouver is projecting another tax increase for homeowners next year, along with higher utilities and user fees too.


The city just released its 2014 budget outlook, which shows a shortfall of at least $13 million dollars -- even with the planned increases.


The city is expecting a number of rising expenses next year, including paying more to unionized workers, with raises that exceed the rate of inflation.


Water and sewer costs are also going up. And the city will spend millions to start the bike share program and hold an election.


City Counc. Geoff Meggs says he expects property taxes may rise two percent, but the final figure could be higher or lower, depending on what cost-cutting measures staff can find.


"The city's always looking to become more efficient and we've saved tens of millions of dollars with various strategies over the last couple of years, and we'll be doing that again, and when we get that work done with staff we'll be able to say more clearly what kind of a tax increase may be necessary."


NPA Counc. George Affleck says the Vision majority council has increased taxes too many times -- while inflation is close to zero.


"With the current inflation rate at about 0.3 per cent, we're looking at significant increases in taxes for people in Vancouver."


The city plans public consultation on the budget this fall, with a vote on the tax increases in December.
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