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Mayors turn to previously neglected revenue as potential source for TransLink funding: a .5 per cent sales tax

February 6th, 2013 · 45 Comments

As mayors continue to press the provincial government to come up with some kind of solution for funding that will allow TransLink to expand services, the chair of the mayors’ council sent out an open letter yesterday with suggestions for short-term and long-term funding solutions.

Short-term:

– 0.5 per cent sales tax, which would pull in $250 million a year

– a vehicle-registration levy, which at $38 average per vehicle would bring in $50 million a year

– a regional carbon tax (taxes on gas at the pump and in furnaces, machinery operation, etc.), which would bring in about $90 million

Long-term:

Road pricing.

My short story here and the letter appended below. Unfortunately, the transportation minister seems to have responded by saying the mayors need to develop a long-term plan for transit first. Guess she didn’t read the letter, where the mayors said the region has spent years developing exactly that plan, as well as doing extensive public consultation.

Letter to Minister Polak 2013-02-04-100042-2

 

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