Taxpayers Federation backing B.C. Interior

Residents of the B.C. Interior are hurting financially and it’s time to give them a break, says the Canadian Taxpayers Federation.

B.C. director Kris Sims is calling for the provincial government to cut fuel taxes, fix the Insurance Corporation of B.C. and axe the new Employer Health Tax.

“We’ve spoken with small businesses owners who say their shipping costs have quadrupled this year, and that fuel surcharges are skyrocketing. If the provincial and federal governments would axe the carbon tax, the excise tax and the GST tax-on-tax on fuel, it would save more than 25 cents per litre. If you’re filling up an 80-litre tank, that would save you $20 every time,” Kris Sims said in a press release.

“Costs like fuel and vehicle insurance are real costs to people and to small businesses, they cannot just be absorbed somehow. The government has the power to ease the burden for people who live outside of the SkyTrain route in Metro Vancouver, and they should do so.”

Sims said she’s also been told by community leaders that the new Employer Health Tax will be downloaded by municipalities onto residents in the form of rising property taxes.

“We’ve spoken with people looking for housing in Penticton while the provincial government blows taxpayer money on fancy walls for bureaucrats, people waiting for promised flood relief in Grand Forks while the provincial government makes them fill out dozens of wastepaper forms, and towns wondering how they are going to pay for the provincial government’s new health care tax,” Sims said.