SQUELCHING TAXES TALK

It’s fair to say that the City of Calgary could never have sufficient sources of revenue. With each increase in funds, new demands, new wishes would be certain to pop up on councillors’ agendas.

So perhaps it’s not surprising that city council is looking at a laundry list of new taxes that could be imposed to finance more interchanges, transit lines and other goodies. A shortlist of 16 options includes a fuel tax, vehicle registration fee, utility bill surcharge and road tolls. One of the problems, of course, is that the city doesn’t have the ability to introduce many of these taxes — even if it found broad support for the measures in the public consultation it plans to soon embark on.

The other shortcoming is that it would make little sense to charge more for such essentials as gas and vehicle registration in Calgary than in neighbouring communities such as Okotoks, Airdrie and Strathmore. The higher cost would be one more reason to leave the city — either for good, or just to fill up the gas tank — putting at risk the additional funds politicians are trying to generate.

The better outcome is predictable, stable funding from the provincial and federal governments for important infrastructure. That would avoid a patchwork of taxes across the province and recognize that there really is only one taxpayer, as it’s often noted. There’s no mythical Calgarian to be shaken down for extra money who isn’t already contributing to the functioning of the city, the province and the federal government. As well, businesses are already pulling their weight and can ill afford extra costs, particularly during today’s economic downturn.

There has been some progress on securing predictable funding, after all. The federal government has pledged a transit fund worth $1 billion a year by 2019, and Alberta’s incoming NDP government has promised to grant $250 million for urban transit in its first year.

Such developments have persuaded Coun. Shane Keating to propose the bus-only expressway to the south hospital be upgraded to a fullfledged LRT line.

“LRT was always the goal. BRT was the halfway step. Times have changed,” the Ward 12 councillor said Wednesday.

Keating is on the right track, so to speak, and correct in pointing out that buses are a half-measure that fails a large portion of the city’s residents. Council should make securing greater funding for infrastructure from senior levels of government its priority and spend less time on pie-in-the-sky taxation alternatives. Such efforts — along with cost savings — would be a far more productive use of taxpayers’ resources.