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Mayors Push Gas Tax to Fund Transit in Vancouver

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Mayors propose gas tax to fund transit line


Jul. 06, 2011

By WENDY STUECK

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Read More: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news...-gas-tax-to-fund-transit-line/article2088944/


Metro Vancouver mayors have proposed a two-cents-a-litre fuel tax to pay for the long-delayed Evergreen Line, a $1.4-billion SkyTrain project that has been stalled for years as governments try to figure out how to help pay for it. The fuel tax is part of a proposed funding formula announced Wednesday and designed to generate an additional $70-million per year for transportation authority TransLink, which has an annual budget of about $1.1-billion. Along with the fuel tax, the proposal includes potential property-tax increases or – the mayors’ preferred option – a new long-term revenue source that could involve a vehicle levy or some form of “road pricing†such as tolls.

- Regional mayors have for years insisted they need another tool other than property taxes to pay for the transit needs of a growing population. Late last year, the mayors refused to pass a supplementary budget that included a property-tax hike, saying they needed the province to commit to another source of funds. In a statement Wednesday, Mr. Lekstrom thanked the mayors’ council “for their hard work in coming up with a plan to fund their share of the Evergreen Line and other transportation projects.â€

- The provincial and federal government have each committed about $400-million to the Evergreen Line, an 11-kilometre connection between Coquitlam and Burnaby that has been on the drawing board since the 1990s. The proposed fuel tax is expected to account for between $40-million and $43-million a year, with the rest of the targeted $70-million coming from other measures, including a potential vehicle levy. Such a levy, or so-called transportation-improvement fee, would likely be based on factors such as the size of a vehicle, its fuel economy or distances travelled, Ms. Goldsmith-Jones said.

- The mayors’ proposal, called “Moving Forward†aims to pay for other improvements, including additional SeaBus sailings, express bus service south of the Fraser and SkyTrain and SeaBus station upgrades. An additional fuel tax – proposed as the provincial government is fighting to keep the Harmonized Sales Tax it introduced last year – could be a tough sell to the public, Ms. Goldsmith-Jones conceded. The proposed funding formula is subject to public consultation and would go to the mayors’ council for a vote this fall. If approved, the fuel-tax increase would be implemented in April of 2012.

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This is what the GTA needs and/or a regional sales tax of whatever percentage required although I don't think it should be over 1%, more like 0.5% which would still bring in mega bucks.
There should be a referendum on it, it would be interesting to see what kind of results it would get.
However any plebisite should state not only what taxes would be raised but also exactly where that money would go by listing each rapid transit line so the populace does not think they are getting a bunch of streetcars but real rapid transit and to know that the money will not go into general coffers where nobody knows where it will be spent. Also on the plebisite should be strict timetables of when the projects will begin construction so people know there will be real results and things won't be studied to death with little actual construction. If Metrolinx wants to start collecting taxes it also should start construction as soon as possible so people actually can see results for their hard earned tax dollars.
It would be interesting if The Star or Globe & Mail did a poll to see how people in the GTA feel about the idea.
 
I would describe myself as an inveterate driver, but I think it's good idea. Ideally, it would be fully transparent as to how much is collected and to which specific projects it funds.
 
I don't think City of Toronto would have a huge amount of impact on it.

Metrolinx is supposed to present it's recommendations for long-term funding in a year or so ... and then presumably the Province would be the ones to put it in place. I believe the Vancouver mayors have direct input and control of the Metrolinx equivalent in Vancouver, unlike here.

They already a long way into this study, and Toronto has shown little interest of providing much input so far ...
 
I don't think City of Toronto would have a huge amount of impact on it.

Metrolinx is supposed to present it's recommendations for long-term funding in a year or so ... and then presumably the Province would be the ones to put it in place. I believe the Vancouver mayors have direct input and control of the Metrolinx equivalent in Vancouver, unlike here.

They already a long way into this study, and Toronto has shown little interest of providing much input so far ...

Just one problem with all that... We have a Provincial election this fall, and its for the Conservatives to win.
 
Just one problem with all that... We have a Provincial election this fall, and its for the Conservatives to win.
Don't see why that's a problem. Metrolinx still has a requirement to detail how they will fund transit construction; current provincial funding only goes through 2015, so there has to be some kind of mechanism to fund the rest. The Conservatives have promised huges amount of transportation infrasructure funding, and also tax cuts and a balanced budget. I can't see them eliminating a process that's going to provide the money to fill the whole.

It's an NDP win that you should be concerned about. The NDP platform - unlike the Liberals and Tories - has nothing for new infrastructure.
 
First thing would be to get The Star or Globe to do a GTA wide poll about gas and sales tax and if stated 100% of all the funding would go to mass/rapid transit with all areas benefiting it indeed would be interesting to see the kind of support it would get.
Seeing The Star is always bitching about how the TTC is starved of funds and the city has a woefully inadequate subway/rapid transit system it would be great to see them put up some money for a GTA poll.
 
Don't see why that's a problem. Metrolinx still has a requirement to detail how they will fund transit construction; current provincial funding only goes through 2015, so there has to be some kind of mechanism to fund the rest. The Conservatives have promised huges amount of transportation infrasructure funding, and also tax cuts and a balanced budget. I can't see them eliminating a process that's going to provide the money to fill the whole.

It's an NDP win that you should be concerned about. The NDP platform - unlike the Liberals and Tories - has nothing for new infrastructure.


The NDP promised to restore the pre-Harris fixed funding for the TTC on he condition that fares don't increase for four years.
 
The NDP promised to restore the pre-Harris fixed funding for the TTC on he condition that fares don't increase for four years.
That's operating funding. Nice, but ...

There wasn't anything in their platform about infrastructure. I'd assume then that we kiss Eglinton, and all the new GO lines goodbye.
 
Ontario politicians' resistance to all forms of tolls and gas taxes to fund infrastructure is mystifying. In that supposed Eldorado of free-market capitalism, the U.S., it's very hard to swing a cat without hitting a tollbooth. Similarly, literally dozens of American cities have implemented small sales tax surcharges to pay for specific transit upgrades, and everyone seems OK with it. This is to say nothing of the situation in Europe, where phenomenal infrastructure, both for cars and for transit, is paid for with--wait for it--tolls and gas taxes! Why, exactly, are we supposed to be so special?

I am convinced that regular people and businesses are much farther ahead on this issue than the politicians are. The status quo is demonstrably not delivering better options for drivers OR transit riders. There's almost a prisoner's dilemma among the politicians, of course, in that no one wants to take the first jump of actually telling the truth on this.

If McGuinty is re-elected, which is still possible, perhaps it will be him. I suspect the backlash would be much smaller than we might think.
 
Many, if not most, of the US turnpikes and other toll routes were established prior to government construction of freeways (I'm thinking primely of the New Jersey Turnpike that started as a timber road), so there was more presidence. The 407 was our first major toll road and it was privatized, so we don't get any revenue from it. It's all about expectations and precidence.

As for McGuinty, I'm pro-liberal, but at least I don't have my head in the sand. Look at the backlash against Smitherman and the general 'staleness' (eHealth, HST, deficit, unionized labour cuts, Green Energy FIT) of the govenment and it's our time for change . As best McGuinty can hope for is a minority government, just look at the lack of running incumbents.
 

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