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EDITORIAL: Get ready for another tax grab

These are taxing times.

In 2010, local residents will pay more through the new Harmonized Sales Tax, a rising carbon tax, bigger tax bites to fund TransLink and Metro Vancouver, as well as rising civic property tax bills
in many municipalities.

But the provincial government is poised to make it even worse, at least for motorists who regularly use pay parking lots.

On Jan. 1, the seven-per-cent provincial sales tax on pay parking that goes to TransLink climbs to 21 percent.

Area mayors voted for the increase, along with a fare hikes and a three-cent jump in gas tax, to avert transit service cuts.

But whether the tripled parking tax lasts longer than six months is still up in the air.

The provincial bureaucracy to collect the PST vanishes when the HST takes effect in July.

Mayors had been told the 21-per-cent parking sales tax would disappear at the same time and Victoria would instead provide TransLink equivalent funding – more than $45 million a year – from some other sources.

But now the province is considering keeping the 21-per-cent tax for TransLink alive after the HST kicks in.

That would require a special dedicated collection apparatus to be maintained – either by Victoria or TransLink – at a cost that will slice away a significant chunk of the incoming revenue.

The impact on pay parking lot users won’t be insignificant.

The 12-per-cent HST would pile on top of the 21 per cent for TransLink, for total compounded taxes of 35.5 per cent by July of 2010.

This won’t just hurt commuters who drive to Downtown Vancouver, who arguably should be steered towards transit.

It would also wallop others who use pay parking lots, including patients and visitors to local hospitals, where the base parking fees are also going up.

It’s obvious why Victoria is intrigued by the idea.

TransLink would get the $45 million a year it needs from the 21 per cent without the province having to crack into other sources to fulfill its promise.

The other 12-per-cent HST on pay parking will bring in net new money for the province.

Ottawa will continue to get the five per cent – GST has always applied on off-street parking.

But the other seven per cent would be new to Victoria, worth an extra $15 million a year.

If the B.C. Liberals push ahead with the stacked tax plan, they will do their best to heap blame for the hike on TransLink.

Don’t believe a word.

It will amount to a tax grab by Victoria, for Victoria.

December 29, 2009. Peace Arch News.

  • Arne Hermann (Vancouver)
    I am continually appalled by the inept people who run Translink and that they haven't all been fired yet. These people come cap in hand every year for more of our hard-earned cash to fund their ill-conceived plans... they spend money on absolutely ridiculous projects that a private enterprise (one who wasn't on corporate welfare) could NEVER EVER justify to it's shareholders. I point you to the millions spent on the wasteful, inefficient and incredibly expensive magnetic card bus transfer system they implemented some years back over the tried-and-true and super-cheap tear-off transfers that worked damn well; or how about many more millions for bus shelters that announce the bus is coming soon... when you can see it up the hill. Do I have to go on? The people that run Translink should be tied to the front of a Skytrain car and forced to look upon this boondoggle they've visited on our fair city. Now they want even MORE MONEY? They can't manage the (far too much) that we already give them. Fire the lot, bring in some good management people and let's try again. And say NO to the parking tax grab.
  • Brian Bosworth
    The increasingly hypocritical Liberals twisting logic into knots over continuing tax grabs of one sort or another, go too far here. It shows the typical arrogance of governments which have been in power two long.

    I don't know which is worse, blithely keeping (and increasing to 21%) a "PST" which was supposed to disappear with harmonization, or then adding the 12% HST on top of the 21%. (There is nothing more odious than when greedy governments slap taxes on taxes) Actually, both are absolutely INFURIATING.



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