VANCOUVER, B.C.: This Family Day, the No TransLink Tax campaign is reminding Lower Mainland families of what they will have to sacrifice if TransLink’s $258 per year sales tax grab is approved this spring.
“Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but families will be hit hard with this TransLink tax hike,” said Jordan Bateman, No TransLink Tax spokesperson. “Lower Mainland families are already struggling under the grip of sky-high housing costs, massive consumer debt loads, and an ever-increasing tax burden. Another $258 a year for wasteful TransLink is a big hit for cash-strapped families.”
Here are some of the things families may have to sacrifice to pay their $258 TransLink annual sales tax bill:
“That’s a lot to sacrifice on top of what the average family already pays TransLink in property taxes, BC Hydro levies, parking taxes, bridge tolls, 17 cents per litre in direct TransLink gas tax, and 5 cents per litre in the gas tax the federal government hands over to TransLink,” said Bateman. “No wonder so many everyday Lower Mainland residents are saying NO to the TransLink sales tax.”
On Friday, the TransLink tax yes campaign put out numbers that deliberately underestimated the amount of tax families will pay by failing to include the TransLink tax embedded into what businesses produce. To recoup those added costs, business will pass along that hidden tax to consumers through higher prices. The TransLink sales tax will directly and indirectly take $250 million per year from 968,000 Lower Mainland households – an average household tax increase of $258.
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