Protesting a parking tax hike
A coalition of organizations are protesting the tripling of the parking tax around Metro Vancouver.
Motorists heading into parkades on Wednesday morning were asked to join the Drive Out The Tax campaign.
Teams of people in matching shirts put leaflets on cars and talked to drivers.
The logo they bore was bright yellow and proclaims “Enough is enough- drive out the tax!”
As of January 1st, tax on pay parking went up from 7% to 21%.
Lee McGraw works in insulation and says transit isn’t an option, “Unless you can carry a ten-foot ladder on the SkyTrain…that would probably be the only way.”
Campaigners are urging people to voice their opposition by calling Translink or their mayor’s office.
Translink spokesperson Ken Hardie says the tax increase is simply a reaction to a demand from the public for more service.
Speaking on the CKNW Morning News, Hardie pointed the finger at some parking lot operators, “Let’s do a little math here. On a $10 parking charge, the increase is $1.40. We have heard that perhaps there are some operators who have worked a little extra in for themselves and are just kind of blaming the tax for the increase in the parking charges.”
But Impark VP Julian Jones denies parking companies are adding a mark-up on top of the added tax.
He says the tax has been increased and the final figure has been rounded-off, “In some lots, you’ll see an increase which is either rounded up, and in some lots you’ll see it’s rounded down. And I think it’s very unfair of Translink to make an aspersion which is quite untrue.”
He says increasing rates any more than 14% is “ludicrous” because the company has already seen many cancellations from monthly rate-payers.
January 7, 2010. METRO VANCOUVER / CKNW
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owls
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paul hodgson