NO NEW MUNICIPAL TAXES

Despite taxpayers being squeezed by three and sometimes four levels of government – none are seeking to expand their scope more than municipalities.

The CTF waged its first – of many – battles with the Greater Vancouver Transit Authority (TransLink) in 2000 when the CTF successfully led public opposition to the agency’s attempt to bring in a $75 per vehicle registration tax. The battles continued through the next decade, culminating in 2011 after TransLink raised its share of the B.C. gas tax to 17 cents per litre (making Greater Vancouver’s gas taxes the highest in North America at a total of 50 cents/litre). The CTF exposed numerous well-publicized examples of wasteful spending and questionable salaries and bonuses. The work led directly to the premier ordering a full review of TransLink, which should be complete in early 2013 and address many taxpayers’ concerns.

In 2003, the former mayor of Winnipeg proposed a “new deal” which offered lower property taxes in exchange for a liquor tax, a city sales tax, a city gas tax, an energy tax on natural gas and electricity, a hotel room tax, a telephone tax, a sewage and water tax increase and a user fee on garbage removal. The CTF was the first to call the proposal a tax grab and quickly organized public opposition leading to a new mayor who committed to examining the spending side of the equation and killed any new taxes.

In 2006 the province of Ontario passed the City of Toronto Act which allows that city to impose new taxes. In 2007, Toronto proposed ten new taxes on everything from theatre tickets to purchasing a home. The CTF released analysis showing an average homeowner could expect to be shelling out $1,182 more a year. The CTF started a petition, commissioned a poll, a phone-in campaign and presented at city hearings. In the end, six of the ten new taxes were taken off the table and in 2010 a new mayor eliminated one of the four that did get implemented.

Despite taxpayers being squeezed by three and sometimes four levels of government – none are seeking to expand their scope more than municipalities.

The CTF waged its first – of many – battles with the Greater Vancouver Transit Authority (TransLink) in 2000 when the CTF successfully led public opposition to the agency’s attempt to bring in a $75 per vehicle registration tax. The battles continued through the next decade, culminating in 2011 after TransLink raised its share of the B.C. gas tax to 17 cents per litre (making Greater Vancouver’s gas taxes the highest in North America at a total of 50 cents/litre). The CTF exposed numerous well-publicized examples of wasteful spending and questionable salaries and bonuses. The work led directly to the premier ordering a full review of TransLink, which should be complete in early 2013 and address many taxpayers’ concerns.

In 2003, the former mayor of Winnipeg proposed a “new deal” which offered lower property taxes in exchange for a liquor tax, a city sales tax, a city gas tax, an energy tax on natural gas and electricity, a hotel room tax, a telephone tax, a sewage and water tax increase and a user fee on garbage removal. The CTF was the first to call the proposal a tax grab and quickly organized public opposition leading to a new mayor who committed to examining the spending side of the equation and killed any new taxes.