If you’re complaining about paying the highest gas prices in the nation right now, you better brace yourself for this. That’s right, gas taxes are about to rise again, from 15 cents per litre, to 17 cents per litre.
Why the increase? Metro Vancouver’s mayors claimed that they were desperate; transit improvement, as they said, is badly need. The funds raised through this would go toward building the Evergreen Line and creating more efficient truck routes.
However, considering the billions of dollars from tax payers’ pockets that’s already spent on Transit projects such as the Canada Line, Gateway Project, and adding high tech budgets to SkyTrain, Mcmartin raises the question: Why has transit improvement suddenly become so urgent now? With such a fragile economy, it really isn’t a good idea to raise taxes now.
After reading some of the stats that Mcmartin gave, I was surprised to see Vancouver worse off than other major cities in Canada. The cost of living is high, not to mention the housing prices, and it certainly doesn’t help that we have the lowest minimum wage in Canada; well, at least that will be going up soon.
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Sources: http://www.evergreenline.gov.bc.ca/documents/Maps_Graphics/alignment_map.jpg