by Harvey Oberfeld
April 3, 2023
Federal and provincial carbon taxes went UP AGAIN on Saturday (April 1) …. to $65 per tonne, up from $50 per tonne.
That’s a whopping 30 % INCREASE!!! On top of all the other INCREASES the federal and BC governments have piled on taxpayers over the past two years … despite so many Canadians struggling just to buy groceries, pay their rents (or mortgages), and all their other escalating daily living costs.
The latest attack on consumers will natural gas will reportedly add ANOTHER 3-cents a liter (now up to 14.31 cents a litre) to gasoline taxes in BC … already in Vancouver the HIGHEST IN NORTH AMERICA …. and increase the carbon tax on diesel to 17 cents a litre and natural gas to 12 cents per cubic metre.
“Say the mid part of April, we could be looking at a scenario where gasoline gets a lot closer to the $1.95, maybe $2 range,” Dan McTeague with Canadians for Affordable Energy was quoted in the media.
How an NDP government … that supposedly cares about workers and is headed by a Premier (who still has no public mandate to hold his job) can EXPLOIT and EXTORT British Columbians with the HIGHEST fuel taxes on the continent … and not be challenged/questioned on this EVERY DAY defies the principles of both politics and journalism.
And those hit worst by all these latest increases, on top of all the previous boosts, will be BC’s and Canada’s MIDDLE CLASS … you know, those who do most of the work and ever-increasing municipal, regional, provincial and federal taxes … without benefit of all the write-offs, deductions and tax-dodging programs/schemes the wealthy enjoy or the rebates, exclusions, special deductions or grants etc. poorer Canadians receive.
No such luck for MIDDLE CLASS working individuals, couples, families or seniors!
If YOU are part of that group, haven’t you noticed YOU are always the one who has to pay through the teeth, seldom qualify for the grants, programs, rebates, exemptions you will see the Prime Minister, Federal Cabinet Ministers, Provincial Premiers and Provincial Cabinet Ministers tout before the cameras?
That is NOT a coincidence.
It is BY DESIGN: the federal Liberals and, in BC, the NDP are TARGETTING you! Or at least, your wallet!!!
The MIDDLE CLASS represents too large a demographic for government to significantly reward, reduce taxes or, frankly, cater too very often.
Oh sure, they WILL … very rarely … announce with GREAT fanfare and hand out piddly grants/rebates and so-called “affordability” credits (which the media will dutifully cover as Front Page news).
And they expect YOU to be grateful!
But it’s amazing how few (public or media) notice those tidbits of largesse occur ONLY after the government has already OVER-TAXED and COLLECTED much more than could rightly be justifiable … to the tune of billions!
Or then, quickly follow … as occurred in this case just days after the Federal Budget was handed down … with NEW INCREASES in taxes/fees/charges.
The federal government, in fact, is also boosting by ANOTHER 2% (on top of the increase of 2.4% last year etc.) the federal excise tax on beer, wine, spirits and, by the way, cannabis too. So the cumulative impact … and cost to consumers … is actually MORE than the 2% announced.
Just another HIT directed at the MIDDLE CLASS.
And … not to be left out … several Municipal politicians, who have also imposed for 2023 MORE tax hikes: Vancouver 10.7%; Surrey 12.5%; City of Langley 11.56%; Port Moody 11.33%; and, White Rock 8.47% … all ABOVE the current rate of inflation in BC and Canada.
(See the entire list on the Storys.com website: https://storeys.com/bc-municipalities-property-taxes-increases-vancouver-surrey-burnaby/.
Nor do these TAX INCREASES include other plans for fee increases, like parking in Vancouver Parks Board lots … and, should you opt for public transit, there will fare hikes there too! And watch what happens to various fees too … anywhere they can bleed the people for more.
So no one should think the latest TAX INCREASES are all the current crop of politicians … and bureaucrats … have their eyes on.
I am convinced too many public officials (elected and appointed) today see MIDDLE CLASS taxpayers as an almost endless resource to be exploited and drained of every last dollar they will tolerate … until they rebel, and “toss the bums out”.
And they are clearly gambling we are not there … yet.
So the next time you see our “leaders” saying how much they care about or are working for MIDDLE CLASS young families, couples, seniors, yada, yada, yada struggling to pay rent, buy a first home, or just feed/clothe/support their families or themselves … call them out on it!!
It is THEM … in government … who have caused or contributed to so many of the woes BC and Canada’s MIDDLE CLASS are now facing: and they should NOT be allowed to blame everyone else.
And every time you fill up your car, pay your taxes or look at your thinner wallet, you will get a chance in the next election to make THEM pay a price too for their actions.
Harv Oberfeld
Harvey,
You’re bang on as usual. The BC NDP & Federal Liberals couldn’t give a damm about the middle class except an avenue to tax ourselves to death and even then there you pay death taxes but hidden as inheritance taxes and disguised as only affecting the rich and not Joe 6 pak. Deception at it’s shining best.
It’s time for a change of governance. A democratic revolution and citizens representatives in the senate as Frank Stronach recently wrote in the National Post as an opinion piece.
Wake up people. “The Power is in Your Hands.” Use it in the next election. Get involved, stay involved and get others involved and throw the bastards in jail.
Oh and less we forget our crippling health care where a million citizens of BC have no doctor.
Thieving governments! Abolish this system! Kick their asses to the curb! Need to boycott areas of tax increase in large numbers of people! Like craziness going on !