Carbon Tax - 34 posts
viewtopic.php?f=5&t=14854
Carbon tax whining - 108 posts over 8 pages
viewtopic.php?f=5&t=15417
So with this recent new gas and property taxes imposed in Metro Vancouver, I would think this would be a popular thread as well.
http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Metro+ ... story.html
From CBC:Metro Vancouver mayors reluctantly voted Friday to raise regional gasoline and property taxes to help pay for a $700 million capital plan that includes construction of the long-awaited Evergreen line.
In a clearly divided meeting of the region's Translink Mayors Council, politicians said they hated the idea of bumping up taxes to pay for a system desperately in need of improvement.
But the majority said they also felt they had no alternative, since the plan would move forward a variety of goods-movement and transit initiatives with only a limited number of funding options at their disposal.
In approving the gas tax hike, the mayors paved the way for the province to begin construction of the $1.4 billion Evergreen Line, which will service Coquitlam and Port Moody. Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson said that initiative also advances his city's hopes for a new rapid bus system down the Broadway Corridor.
The approvals come with the expectation that the province, TransLink and the Metro mayors' council will begin discussions on a new governance model that will bring equity back into some of the decisions around regional transportation planning.
Surrey Mayor Dianne Watts said she didn't like the idea of raising gas taxes again or bringing in yet another increase in property taxes, but those will help advance the cause for a new governance model that would have stable, long-term funding.
Not everyone agreed. Some of the stiffest opposition came from Burnaby Mayor Derek Corrigan, who reminded the council that two years ago they passed a motion saying they would not raise property taxes any more. A former BC Transit chairman in the 1990's, Corrigan said the province has ignored the region's choice of transportation upgrades in favour of politically useful ones of their own.
"You can't go on like this being treated like sheep. You have to stand up. You have to have your own Boston Tea Party," he said.
But his entreaties fell on deaf ears. Using a weighted vote based on population, the mayors voted 81 to 34 in favour of the increases. The vote by municipalities was 15 in favour and six against.
Under the proposal, regional gas taxes will go to 17 cents from 15 next April. Starting in 2013 Translink could also get an average $23 more per year from property owners, who already pay an average of $250 a year for transportation initiatives. The property tax hike was portrayed as a temporary "stopgap" measure for two years in order to allow TransLink to get other funding sources in place, including access to the provincial carbon tax and a new road pricing strategy. The gas tax initiative still needs provincial legislative approval.
Pitt Meadows Mayor Don MacLean said he doubted the "temporary" property tax hike will ever be rescinded.
" The reality is that once the property tax in place it will be there forever," he said.
Port Moody Mayor Joe Trasolini, who is not running for re-election, said he was grateful the vote will mean the Evergreen Line will now go ahead.
Three years ago his municipality brought in no-growth policy in its Official Community Plan until the line is approved. Now, he said, he'll propose lifting that restriction.
"Growth is going to come to our region now," he said. "I think the community has paid its dues. We need this now."
TransLink officials said they expected the province would issue requests for proposals for the line by the end of the year.
Metro Vancouver mayors have voted to pass a 2-cent per litre gas tax hike to pay for expanded TransLink services, at a meeting in Burnaby on Friday morning.
The tax is meant to meet the costs of new TransLink services in the region, including the proposed Evergreen Line to the Tri-Cities area.
The vote passed easily with an 81 to 34 majority. Larger cities such as Vancouver and Surrey getting a greater share of the votes in the weighted voting system.
The vote follow a public statement last week by the mayors of seven of municipalities in Metro Vancouver representing 70 per cent of the region's population that they would be supporting the tax, despite the looming civic elections in November.
But opposition to the motion was lead by Richmond Mayor Macolm Brodie, who said he objected to another part of the motion which opened the door to future property tax increases for Metro Vancouver residents.
Drivers in Metro Vancouver alreay pay a motor fuel tax of 23.5 cents per litre on top of the B.C. carbon tax, which rose to 5.56 cents per litre in July 2011 and will reach 6.67 cents a litre on July 1, 2012.