Fifty cents a litre.

That’s what Greater Vancouver drivers now pay in gas taxes, after the region’s mayors voted to hike TransLink gas taxes another two cents per litre today.

Let that sink in for a moment. When you pump 40 litres of gas into your car—so you can go to work, so you can take your kids to hockey practice, so you can see the Canucks play, so you visit Grandma—you are paying $20 just in tax.

Your government—the people supposedly serving you—are taking $20 out of your pocket every time you fill up. That’s on top of TransLink’s property taxes, hydro levy, parking tax, and AirCare fee. It’s ridiculous.

For the full breakdown of taxes, check out my previous posting here.

When will it be enough? TransLink can’t seem to scrape by on the $719 million it took out of last year in taxes and bridge tolls, so it wants more. It’s already $2.2 billion in debt, with more debt coming to finance another expensive, Cadillac SkyTrain line—when there are perfectly acceptable, functional and cheaper rapid transit technologies available.

Fifty cents a litre: it’s obscene. It’s twice what you pay in Alberta (24.5 cents/litre). In fact it’s more than any other province:

1.    BC 50 cents/litre
2.    Quebec 44.2 cents/litre
3.    Nova Scotia 42.8 cents/litre
4.    Newfoundland 42.1 cents/litre
5.    Ontario 39.8 cents/litre
6.    New Brunswick 38.4 cents/litre
7.    PEI 31.7 cents/litre
8.    Saskatchewan 31 cents/litre
9.    Manitoba 27.2 cents/litre
10.   Alberta 24.5 cents/litre

Enough is enough.