Montreal passes Vancouver for highest gas taxes in North America
Posted May 19, 2016 1:51 pm.
Last Updated May 19, 2016 1:52 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – Some good news for drivers here in the Lower Mainland, we no longer have the highest gas taxes on the continent.
The head of the BC branch of the Canadian Taxpayers’ Federation is celebrating the news on its 18th Gas Tax Honesty Day.
Don’t get too excited by that news says the CTF’s Jordan Bateman, it’ll still cost you to fill up.
“We are no longer have the highest gas taxes on the continent – Montreal has flipped up, they just passed us. We’re number two at about 48 cents per litre,” says Bateman.
He wants you to know exactly where your money goes when you pull up at the pump.
“We try to educate people there’s more to taxes on gasoline than GST. GST is the tax on tax. When you go to the pump you’re actually paying GST on the carbon tax and on the TransLink taxes. The government really uses it as a cash cow, and we’re going to keep pointing it out.”
There are a number of conditions that need to be met before anyone should agree to government road pricing.
“There needs to be a referendum on it. This is a new form of taxation, Christy Clark’s promise has not changed, and she needs to make sure she has social license to do it.”
And Bateman says the math behind the tolling, doesn’t add up.
“Most people throw around the idea if you paid a dollar each time you crossed a bridge, you’d be fine. In order to cover off all the construction on the big bridges and the TransLink/mayors’ plan, you’d need a $2.04 crossing toll every time you went across one of these bridges.”
