Ralph Sheardown fears that a competitor could set up shop across the street and charge customers less tax than he’ll have to if the Metro Vancouver transit tax plebiscite passes.
Sheardown has owned Crompton’s Auto RV & Tire in Aldergrove for the past 15 years.
Because the service station is within Metro Vancouver, his customers would to have to pay an additional 0.5% in tax at his shop, compared with his competitors across 276th Street in Abbotsford.
Customers usually spend several hundred dollars at a time at Sheardown’s shop, which repairs vehicles and sells tires and other accessories.
If the region’s residents vote by mail-in ballot March 16 through May 29 in favour of creating a new transportation tax, Sheardown said it would tack an extra $1.50 onto the average bill – enough to deter business.
“For a 10th of a cent per litre, people will drive to the next gas station. You can’t tell me they’re not going to care about paying half of a percent more in tax.”
Sheardown is not the only retailer concerned about the impact of the tax.
“Our members are a bit alarmed – less about the 0.5% increase than they are about a new level of government imposing a consumption tax,” said Retail Council of Canada director of government relations Greg Wilson.
He said the Metro Vancouver Congestion Improvement Tax would set a dangerous precedent of regional governments imposing consumption taxes and would impose an administrative burden on Metro Vancouver retailers that their counterparts outside the region will not face.
“Consumers get to make this choice about whether they want to pay more, but businesses aren’t getting a choice about whether they want a more complicated tax system,” he said.
New Car Dealers Association of BC members are mixed on the proposal, according to CEO Blair Qualey.
Some proponents of the new tax have suggested that new-car buyers could be assessed the tax based on their registered residence and not on the location of the car dealer.
But B.C.’s Transportation Ministry told BIV in an email that it has not yet determined how new-car owners would be assessed the tax.
“Our members in Chilliwack and Abbotsford or in Squamish are rubbing their hands with joy,” Qualey said. “Just on the other side of Aldergrove, in Abbotsford, it could be a good idea to buy some land right now and set up a dealership.”
Womenswear seller Ed des Roches is also considering opposing the plebiscite because it will erode customers’ buying power at most of his Plum’s nine locations.
“I work really hard to keep prices down and be competitive. Then my customers get stung at point of sale with 12% in taxes. Soon, it could be another 0.5%. Where is this going to end?”
Still, there are retailers who remain sanguine.
“There’s not a lot we can do if it passes, so we just accept things as they come,” said Jeff Adams, who owns the MJ Auto Wholesale in Maple Ridge, not far from the eastern edge of Metro Vancouver.
“We just have to make the sales every day and hope for another day.” •
