Richmond - The Editor, I am hearing more about the mobility tax to support TransLink. From looking at my property tax and guessing how much transit siphons off every litre of gasoline purchased, I believe transit is one of the biggest single tax items in most households.This, from an organization that does not answer to the taxpayer; we have no way of directly questioning transit on how it spends our money. Now they want to tax folks based on how much they drive. The new system would involve buying equipment to detect and record the passing of motor vehicles and hiring personnel to process the fees and, of course, mailing out the bills.The other way to tax folks based on how much they use their cars is to increase the tax on a litre of fuel. This system is already in place and being used, so there is nothing to buy. Every penny charged goes to the tax man.The more you drive the more fuel you buy seems simple and cost effective. Here is the problem with single source tax; the taxpayer can easily see how much money is going to transit! By creating a different system we do not see the price of gas go up. It is just another hand in our pocket from a different angle. The problem is we first have to pay for the new hightech system to collect the tax. In the long run, we will pay more. I do not want to see the price of fuel go up. I do want to see transit accountable for the money they take from us. I do not want to pay for the wool that is being pulled over my eyes!Scott StewartRichmond
