Quote:
Originally Posted by officedweller
What I meant is that not all people are patients (i.e. some people don't or don't hardly ever use hospital or medical services) and people without kids still pay taxes that support the schools for those with kids.
i.e. Are parents paying the true amount of the cost to run and operate schools?
No, because there are many taxpayers without kids who pay taxes that support schools.
I've never used the Vancouver school system and don't have kids. What is a "fair share" for me to contribute to the cost of building and operating Vancouver schools? Based on the present tax system - it will never be "fair" based on "use".
Likewise, drivers may not pay the full cost of building and maintaining roads, since many taxpayers who don't drive pay taxes to support the road infrastructure.
So you can't always look for a relationship between paying (whether direct or indirect) and "use".
In essence, I read the criticism as "some people (i.e. drivers) are leaching off the system" - that applies across the board to many other areas.
**********
I think that the property tax issue is the mayors not wanting to eat up any headroom on current property tax levels - so that they can raise taxes (municipalities are notorious for being poor fiscal managers since they set taxes to fund their budgets, as opposed to setting taxes and basing budgets on estimated tax revenue.
I don't think there' s problem with a vehicle levy if the money were directed to TransLink's road improvements (which, depending on amounts, may just be an internal bookkeeping exercise versus what is proposed).
That said, the impacts on the households affected will be greater with the vehicle levy. The property tax increase averaged $30 or $60 per property, whereas the vehicle levy would be up to $90 per vehicle (and of course it'll be the suburban communities that will have more 2-car households).
|
Fare point in that a lot of people pay for a service that they never use.
The thing I've noticed is those who drive complain that they pay too much. Those who take transit complain that the price of fares is too high. Those who cycle complain that they pay more than they should. Everyone complains they they already pay enough and that someone else should pay.
Basically everyone wants to pay the least and get the most. Well sadly it doesn't work that way. And it puts us into a never ending circle of the blame game and pointing fingers.