Editor: Thank you Mr. Scrooge (TransLink) for dropping yet another threat of more taxes on the poor taxpayer. This was done just in time for Christmas.
When people shop, they go to where they can get what they want at the best price, and the price that they can afford. In Aldergrove, we are blessed with the Shell station at the corner of Station Road and Fraser Highway, where the price of gas is much lower than stations within the Metro Vancouver area.
Of course we are going to go out of our way for cheaper gas. It’s no different than going to a store that has lower prices for a jacket or dress or even groceries. You otherwise might pay a premium price at a higher-priced store.
It’s our right to shop around and get the best bang for our buck. But TransLink seems to think that it should have control of how and where we spend our money, particularly when it comes to gasoline.
TransLink appears to be having a problem with the concept of people trying to be prudent with their hard-earned cash. We can’t keep going to our employer and asking for more money to pay our living expenses. We don’t have ‘money trees’ growing in our backyard. Now TransLink wants to get the federal government involved in its money problem.
Will we have to start showing ID at the Shell station, so that they can charge us a premium because we live in Metro Vancouver? What are they working on with Washington State regarding gas prices near the border? Are they going to work out a deal over the border where our licence plate automatically initiates a higher charge.
When it comes to the vehicle levy or road pricing, how are they going to calculate these? Do we have to attach ‘Big Brother Monitors’ to our vehicles so TransLink knows how much to tax us or charge us? It’s just another penalty for using our vehicles, living in rural areas, and having little or no option.
I work hard for my money and no one has the right to tell me where to spend my money and take more money out of my pocket because they can’t figure out how to work with the money they already receive from us. Perhaps if they had been proactive in dealing with fare evaders since 1996, they wouldn’t be in this predicament.
In Langley Township, we just elected a new mayor and council. They have just received hefty salary increases, shame on them. These people were elected by us to use our tax monies fairly and effectively. It is apparent that is not going to happen because we now have to pay for their massive salary increases.
Many of the mayors voted to increase gas taxes, which ironically will now only partially help with TransLink’s woes with the Evergreen Line. All these can only mean higher property taxes to pay for increased salaries, gas taxes and penalties for living in rural areas.
Not too long ago, I wrote a letter to the editor about TransLink, in which I stated that it wouldn’t be long before it would have its hat out to us again. Well, here we go again. It just never ends. Oh, what a tangled web we weave.
D. Atkinson,
Langley