Dear Editor:
After moving from the City of Langley to the Osoyoos area in the spring of 2013, I have endeavoured to follow the debate on the proposed additional one half percent Provincial Sales Tax (PST) increase, to be levied within the Greater Vancouver Regional District for some as yet unspecified “transit improvements”.
Because my wife and I sometimes “go west” for family and recreational related trips, I have the following question about this proposal:
Would non-GVRD residents (like us and a million or so other BC residents, as well as all “tourists”) be automatically exempt from paying a “regional” tax?
The reason for asking this question is that in my understanding, non-resident tax exemptions are quite common, not only between Canadian provinces, but also internationally.
Just across from the U.S. border south of us, stores in Oroville, WA alert customers that residents of various U.S. states, as well as Alberta and Yukon, are exempt from paying Washington State sales tax.
Obviously, residence verification would need to be done. My B.C. driver’s license would adequately prove that I do not stand to gain anything from improvements in the grim financial situation of the Greater Vancouver Transportation Authority, a.k.a. TransLink, and nor should I contribute.
If not exempt, I would sincerely try to limit my travels, and then spend my Canadian dollars in Abbotsford or Chilliwack.
Jacob A. de Raadt
Osoyoos, B.C.
