If a proposed 0.5% sales tax to fund transit improvements goes ahead, Metro Vancouver residents won’t be able to avoid paying the extra tax on a new car by going outside of the region.
Todd Stone, British Columbia’s transportation minister, has agreed that vehicles will be taxed based on the purchaser’s place of residence, according to Metro Vancouver mayors.
The “sales leakage” issue was a concern for car dealerships across Metro Vancouver, who feared consumers would head to nearby communities, like Squamish or Abbotsford, to avoid paying the extra tax.
“This goes a long way to address a number of the concerns,” said Blair Qualey, CEO of the New Car Dealers Association of BC.
“Other jursdictions I understand the Mayors’ Council have looked at —California, Seattle, elsewhere — when they’ve done a sales tax to pay for transit, they’ve made this kind of a implementation rule.”
The same rule currently applies to B.C. residents when they buy a car in Albera or the United States, Qualey said.
Metro Vancouver residents are currently voting whether to support a 0.5% regional sales tax in a mail-in plebiscite. The money raised by the proposed tax increase would fund local government’s portion of $7.5 billion worth of transit and transportation improvments. Voting started on March 16 and will close May 29.
Qualey said he would have preferred the decision on car sales to have been made before the plebiscite started earlier this week.
“It’s early in the vote, so that’s good. For our members who could be impacted by the sales leakage issue, many of them live in Metro Vancouver, have employees who live in Metro Vancouver, have customers in Metro Vancouver, all of whom will have a vote in this plebiscite.”
@jenstden
