The trucking industry helps pay to support the roads and bridges that we all need to get to and from work and recreational activities, for emergency and other public services, and to connect BC’s communities. In fact, the industry pays more than its fair share through federal, provincial and municipal taxes and such payments as commercial vehicle licence fees, special weight and dimension permit fees, and others.
BC has enjoyed a number of recent infrastructure investments, including, among other examples, improvements to Highway 1 through the Kicking Horse Canyon and in the Lower Mainland and the new William R. Bennett Bridge in Kelowna. Nevertheless, only a portion of the taxes that the industry – and all motorists for that matter – pay to all levels of government find their way back into road infrastructure. No portion of federal and provincial fuel taxes is dedicated to road funding. All tax revenues flow to general revenues.
Trucking companies can pay around $36,500 (and up, not including the HST) in taxes and fees each year, per truck, including motor fuel taxes and income taxes paid by the driver and other employees (companies can recover the HST paid on fuel, equipment and maintenance as input tax credits). Different tractor-trailer combinations will, of course, pay different amounts, depending on such things as the amount of fuel that they use and increased maintenance costs (e.g., for more than one trailer).
The following figures show taxes and fees for a 5-axle tractor semi-trailer (i.e., a tractor hauling a single trailer) and an 8-axle Super B-train (i.e., a tractor hauling two trailers) in 2011. The sample configurations are both assumed to be BC-based carriers operating primarily in the province with home terminals in Metro Vancouver, where fuel tax is higher, although in calculating fuel taxes we assumed that 25% of the fuel was purchased in Metro Vancouver, 25% in the Capital Region District, 25% elsewhere in BC and 25% outside BC. In each case, taxes on the tractor and trailer payable at time of purchase are annualized over a 5-year period for the tractor and 10-year period for the trailer.
