In mid-March Metro Vancouver residents will receive mail-in ballots to vote on a proposed 0.5 per cent hike to the provincial sales tax in order to ease traffic congestion. You have until May 29 to vote for or against the proposed tax, which will help pay for a 10-year, $7.5-billion transportation plan.
The tax will generate $250 million annually with no expiry date. The provincial and federal governments are expected to fund the difference on the capital costs. You may expect to be bombarded by opinions and town hall meetings from the "yes" and "no" camps.
Metro Vancouver mayors (without unanimity in their ranks) will spend as much as $4 million or more (of our money) to convince us to tax ourselves, a traditionally unpleasant experience.
The "no" side, headed by the Canadian Taxpayers Federation,
believes the capital costs can be covered by trimming TransLink's $1.4 billion operating budget and by finding money within Metro Vancouver's 21 municipal government budgets of $7 billion annually. They are critical of municipal revenues growing by 55 per cent in the past eight years, compared to 11 per cent increase in consumer prices.
In essence, the "no side" is saying three per cent savings on a combined annual budget of $8.4 billion will generate revenues of $250 million annually, thus negating the need for a tax increase. The federation's services have been offered to assist in identifying Metro Vancouver's cost savings.
Setting aside the philosophical discussion of tax and spend or cost cutting, the two sides are far apart in determining the impact of the tax on the average household. The Mayors' Council on Regional Transportation says the yearly cost is $125 while the Canadian Taxpayers Federation has pegged the cost at $258.
I know from past experience both sides can torture statistics until they confess to their point of view. Safe to say, the true cost per household is somewhere between the two financial models.
The mayors' council outrageously says there is no plan in place should the tax proposal fail. Catastrophe is predicted over the next 20 years with an estimated 600,000 more cars on already congested highways and a public transit failure.
So how did we get to this place, facing an uncomfortable choice foisted on us by the two levels of government and a disrespected transit authority? We are compelled to vote for an unpopular tax increase because of this failure of Metro Vancouver mayors to agree on a transit plan and financing, as the transit system grows to accommodate staggering Lower Mainland growth.
Simply put, the provincial government felt the mayors' council incapable of reaching agreement on anything. In 2007, it was dismissed and replaced by an unelected transit authority.
The ensuing eight years failed to produce an acceptable funding formula, nor credible leadership from the region.
The provincial transportation minister ultimately ordered a costly plebiscite and with it a problematic outcome.
To be continued. And a good night to you, Lois.
