About a month ago Vancouver’s mayor, backed by a least one councillor and the mayor of Delta, suggested that the province place tolls on major highways and bridges in the Lower Mainland as a solution to TransLink’s funding crunch.

The province responded that it was too early to look at tolls.

Don’t you hate having to pay for everything twice?

Considering that Canadians only began paying income tax during the First World War (in 1917) as a “temporary” measure to pay for the war, the country has made up for lost revenue since then.

Canadians have become far too used to paying taxes — income tax to the province and to the feds, property and corporate taxes to municipalities, and various other taxes for schools, hospitals and other regional services.

It’s an easy way to raise money for them because the legal system allows for harsh punishment for tax evaders.

We’re not all that far away from The Boston Tea Party of 1773 where colonists destroyed the tea shipped from Britain rather than paying the duty on it, which they viewed as a tax.

“No taxation without representation,” they said.

Well, we have representation. We certainly have taxation. What we don’t have is a government that can reverse the corruption and waste of tax money.

We constantly hear about unaccounted-for taxes being given away to government supporters or just simply friends of the family. We’d have enough money to operate our hospitals and our health care systems properly if the ministries would quit giving it all away to the consultants who used to work for them at half or less the cost.

So, what are we paying taxes every year for again?

It’s not so government-funded offices can pay out $200,000 retirement bonuses or million-dollar contracts that come to an end with no work to show for all the money spent.

—Ashcroft-Cache Creek Journal

(Black Press)