BC

BURNABY, B.C. - Calling it highway robbery, the Canadian Taxpayers Federation says gasoline taxes will suck a billion dollars out of the wallets of drivers in Metro Vancouver this year.

The federation's B.C. director Jason Bateman says drivers elsewhere in the province will pay a further $800 million in gas taxes to various levels of government and transit authorities.

He says in the Metro Vancouver region, increases in the carbon tax and the gas tax that goes to TransLink will result in drivers paying nearly 50 cents a litre in gas taxes, which he says is the highest on the continent.

The tax that goes to TransLink rose two cents a litre in April, while the carbon tax rises 1.1 cent on July 1.

Bateman says people living in the Victoria area will pay $133.8 million dollars in gas tax this year, while drivers outside the Lower Mainland and Victoria regions will hand over another $687 million.

He says the government is treating motorists like a personal drive-thru banking machine, also scooping up money through bridge tolls, auto insurance, vehicle registration fees, parking taxes and drivers' licence fees.