In Sunday’s Armchair Mayor News — the case for adding a municipal tax on gas and diesel
Dr. Peter Tsigaris.
SUNDAY IN THE ARMCHAIR MAYOR NEWS — TRU economics professor Dr. Peter Tsigaris puts forward a case for the City of Kamloops to put a municipal tax of three cents per litre on gasoline. Not only that, he calculates how much revenue it would bring in to City coffers.
ArmchairMayor.ca 
With everything going up except wages, it is becoming more and more difficult for many to manage. To suggest an additional tax on gas is just another slap for people who work for much less, quite often without a pension or benefits, than what a university professor earns.
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Ah, but as you’ll see from Dr. Tsigaris’ article today when it’s posted, he’s not saying a gas tax should simply be an additional tax, but that if it becomes part of municipal revenues it could, in effect, replace some of the property tax (just as various grants and fees for service reduce the need for higher property taxes).
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There is a concept that has been forgotten in recent years. Perhaps it is because of the history of taxation. In medieval times taxation was levied with out any accountability, simply based upon the populations tolerance to be taxed with out revolting.. The past is always with us, even if just in our unconscious states. In modern times municipal taxation is a fee for service. But this is not a given. The bureaucracy does not feel an allegiance to the principle of a fee for service. This was evident with the recent proposal to extend the city boundaries to include the New Gold Mine. What is the principle behind this attempt? What services will the city provide in exchange for this tax revenue? Such a concept is foreign to the administration and even our elected officials.In all matters of taxation and service levels we must return to a user pay model when ever possible, and keep accountability foremost in our minds. It is difficult to truly detach from our feudal past, but it is better to do the difficult things while they are still easy. The officials and the bureaucracy must justify grabbing any additional sources of revenue in terms of services rendered in return.
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