ROTHENBURGER – Would you buy a used car from a politician?

Anyway, I traded in my 14-year-old vehicle for a somewhat newer one that I found at a local car lot. On top of the agreed-to-price, I had to shell out five per cent GST plus seven per cent PST on the difference between the trade-in and the newer one.

We all have to pay our taxes but I don’t accept the principle behind charging sales tax on used vehicles. The first time a vehicle is sold, the buyer pays tax. Each time that vehicle is sold thereafter, sales tax is paid on it, over and over.

Tax-wise, a used vehicle is the gift that keeps on giving. It’s like the government is double, triple and quadruple dipping.

I know the theory behind sales taxes on used vehicles. It’s actually a “transaction” tax — that’s the government’s story.

But there’s little consistency across the country. If I’d bought my vehicle privately I wouldn’t have had to pay GST (I’d just get dinged more on PST). If I’d bought it in Alberta, I wouldn’t have had to pay provincial sales tax.

In Saskatchewan, the total comes to 11 per cent instead of 12 per cent, and on it goes.

My question is, what is the government doing for me in the “transaction” of buying a used vehicle that I should have to pay for?

I’m surprised there isn’t a bigger movement to reduce the taxes on used vehicles or get rid of them altogether. There are a few weak voices out there but once the initial accusations of “tax grab” rang out a few years ago when the HST fiasco settled out — and the tax on private car sales was pegged at 12 per cent — we seem to have accepted it.

I can’t wait to hear from those wanting to explain the system to me, but another question is, is it right? Shouldn’t there at least be a limit on the total amount of tax that can be collected on a used car during its lifetime?

If you think about it, the used-car tax is a tax on the poor or, maybe more accurately, on the not-rich. If you can pay $50,000 or $60,000 or more for new wheels, you can afford the tax. But those who must buy used don’t have the same wherewithal.

Speaking of the GST, how’s it working for you? After Brian Mulroney brought in the GST in 1991 his party was destroyed, literally.

The Senate refused to pass it into law, forcing Mulroney to use an obscure power allowing him to appoint more Progressive Conservative senators. In the next election, his party was annihilated, electing only two members.

Then the B.C. Liberals implemented the HST in 2011. Terry Lake will remember that — his support of the HST resulted in a recall petition that tried to get him removed from office. The HST itself ended up going to a referendum, which defeated it, and the HST was thrown out. We basically now have the same system as before the HST attempt, a combination of GST and PST.

All sales taxes were supposed to return to pre-HST levels but the government decided to raise the PST on used cars purchased privately from seven to 12 per cent. The HST is in place in a handful of provinces. The tax system in Canada is a complete mish-mash.

As we speak, the BC Liberals are pointing a finger at John Horgan for supposedly being the cause of high gas prices. They’ve erected billboards telling drivers, “This line up to get GAS is brought to you by JOHN HORGAN.” Another simply reads, “Blame John Horgan.” The Liberals say he should reduce B.C. taxes on gasoline. But, of course, such a move would inevitably mean higher taxes somewhere else. If we don’t pay one way, we pay another.

Friday, Justin Trudeau won one when the Saskatchewan Supreme Court ruled he can impose a carbon tax on the province. He has a lot of premiers vowing to continue the fight against the tax.

So, what’s a fair tax and what’s not? We would probably all agree that the necessities of life shouldn’t be subject to tax. There are exemptions to the GST that we all know about — things like groceries (but not donuts) and drugs. (We pay a different kind of “tax” on the latter. It’s called a dispensing fee. I got a prescription filled yesterday that cost $25. The fee was $10, the maximum allowable under medicare in B.C. That equates to a tax of 40 per cent.)

Despite the belief of many that shelter should be a basic right, we pay GST on new homes. But not on used. Depends on who you are, and how much the place costs.

Then there are vacation homes, the property transfer tax, the new speculation tax, and so on.

Supposedly, we have no death taxes in B.C. but probate fees are just another name for them. They’re based on the value of the estate, not on what the estate costs the government to process.

Maybe tax fairness is an impossible dream. There’s a reason God created tax accountants. It’s because somebody has to try to sort through the mess we call taxes.

We all look at taxes based on our own priorities. If somebody would promise to cut the taxes on used vehicles, it would get my attention.

Mel Rothenburger is a former mayor of Kamloops and newspaper editor. He publishes the ArmchairMayor.ca opinion website, and is a director on the Thompson-Nicola Regional District board. He can be reached at mrothenburger@armchairmayor.ca.

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Editor’s Note: This opinion piece reflects the views of its author, and does not necessarily represent the views of CFJC Today or the Jim Pattison Broadcast Group.

by Mel Rothenburger

ROTHENBURGER – Would you buy a used car from a politician?

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