Monday, June 30, 2008

Axe The BC Gas Tax protest group on Facebook now has over 7,600 members in just 20 days!

Axe The BC Gas Tax - online Facebook Internet protest group – has over 7,600 members in less than 3 weeks to fight new BC gas tax

VANCOUVER – Axe The BC Gas Tax – an online Facebook protest group created by political commentator Bill Tieleman – has signed up over 7,600 members in less than 3 weeks to fight the new provincial gas tax to be imposed on July 1.

Tieleman says the Facebook protest group he created to oppose Premier Gordon Campbell’s 2.4 cents per litre carbon tax on gasoline and other fuels has grown far beyond his wildest expectations since he proposed it in his weekly column in 24 hours newspaper on June 10.

“I am amazed at the incredible growth of the Axe The BC Gas Tax group on Facebook in such a short period of time,” Tieleman says. “It clearly shows how strongly British Columbians feel that the new gas tax is unfair, unnecessary and unacceptable.”

Tieleman said Axe The BC Gas Tax has primarily spread through Facebook with support from his column but absolutely no advertising.

“If you read the hundreds of comments on the Facebook page you can see that this is a grass roots protest against the BC Liberal gas tax that cuts across all political and regional differences,” Tieleman said. “People are really upset that Gordon Campbell does not seem to care about the cost of this new tax at a time when they are already struggling to deal with the radical market price increase in gasoline of more than 45 cents a litre since October 2007.”

Tieleman said he believes there is still a possibility that the BC Liberal government will reconsider the new gas tax because of the enormous negative impact it would have on individuals with no options to reduce their gas and heating fuel consumption and on the BC economy.

“Premier Campbell says he wants to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to fight climate change and most British Columbians want to do that too – but not when they don’t have real choices like available, affordable public transit and no way to reduce their heating costs,” Tieleman said.

Axe The BC Gas Tax can be found online at:

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=16079793009

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

Gordon listen to the people of BC? - pigs do not fly in this province!

Anonymous said...

There was a great article in the June 30 edition of the Pr. George Citizen by Todd Whitcombe explaining the tax increases caused by the "Carbon"tax. He points out that the increases caused by the tax will be much greater than what the gov't says they will be. Here's a quote,
"For example, in 2007, a single person earning $40,000 per year with nothing other than the basic personal exemption would have a taxable income of $30,811. At a tax rate of 5.35 percent, this would result in a tax bill of $1,648.39.
A cut of two percent in our 'personal income tax rate" sounds like it is going to lower that rate to 3.35 percent and we will get savings of $616.22 a year. Indeed, I saw this number given in an article an the carbon tax.
Of course, that is not what it actually says. It is a two per cent cut in the 5.35 per cent rate. That means that the tax rate for 2008 will be 5.24 per cent.
Applied to a $40,000 income, this will result in a tax bill of $1,614.50. Yes, our $40k earner will see a whole $33.89 decrease in their provincial income tax for this year. And a further $55.46 the following year for a total of $89.35 per year.
In the mean time, if they own a fuel efficient car (say, 14 kilometres per litre or 7.1 litres per 100 km) and only drive 20,000 kilometres per year, they will see an increase in gasoline costs of $33.43. That means that they will come out ahead this year, right? It is only 46 cents but at least it isn't costing them anything.
Except that the carbon tax isn't applied to just gasoline. It is applied to any fossil fuel producing carbon dioxide at a rate of $10/tonne of equivalent carbon dioxide emissions. That alone is a mouthful, but essentially it says that for every Gigajoule of natural gas that you burn to heat your house, you will be paying another 20 cents in carbon tax. If you use other, less efficient means to heat your house, then the price per Gigajoule will be even higher.
Terasen Gas has reported that domesticate consumption of natural gas has declined over the past few years - from an average of 120 GJ in the late 1990s to around 104 GJ annually. Still, at 20 cents per gigajoule, that translates to a further $20.80 annually. Suddenly, our $40,000 wage earner is behind in the game."

Anonymous said...

On the Facebook site there are some really racist comments by Emerson, etc. If no one is vetting this they should be-it's why I won't join facebook-guilt by association-I'm surprised that no one is checking this and make sure it is dropped!

Anonymous said...

The facebook support site has been compromised by racist comments. Surely someone is monitoring these comments, or am I just hop?ing

Budd Campbell said...

7,600 members is a good deal more than the one to three hundred numbers you find in the Stop Gateway and Stop the Twinning of the Port Mann Bridge groups.

Bill Tieleman said...

I strongly disagree with "Emerson" & his remarks on Facebook but I also believe in free speech, even when it is sometimes uncomfortable. I encourage others to post their comments about his opinion at Facebook.

Anonymous said...

Just passed through 8,033 when last checked at 3:15 , first day of the new tax. My God things must be of interest when the Globe Guy G. Mason tells us on day one of the latest tax by Gordo what a great guy Gordo is as he turned green. He of course attacked the NDP as being political opportunists. Reminds me way back when when Gordo wanted smaller, government, promised not to sell anything or tear up contracts. Where was G. Mason then? Silent.

BC Mary said...

.
Gary Mason's exact words in today's Globe and Mail for the BC NDP: "morally bankrupt".

First he writes that "BC Premier Gordon Campbell ... deserves enormous credit for the bold steps he's taken on the climate-change file."

Then "... it would be a shame if he rescinded the carbon tax because of a well-orchestrated but morally bankrupt campaign led by the NDP Opposition."

It's painfully ironic that this sycophantic journalist concludes today's column with "Don't let politicians do your thinking for you. Arm yourself with knowledge so when they come and try to snow you for crass political gain, you can call them on it."

OK, I call you, Gary Mason. First on the Basi-Virk file ("There's nothing to these charges" by Gary Mason, Globe and Mail, December 2006), then on the Carbon Tax file (A Canada Day resolution: Don't let the politicians do your thinking for you" by Gary Mason, G&M, July 1, 2008).

You wouldn't be helping the politicians do our thinking for us, would you? You wouldn't be tryin' to snow us, would you Gary??

.

Anonymous said...

Here's a story about Campbell you may have missed.

Gorden Campbell was seated next to a little girl on the airplane when he turned to her and said, 'Let's talk. I've heard that flights go quicker if you strike up a conversation with your fellow passenger.'

The little girl, who had just opened her book, closed it slowly and said to Campbell, 'What would you like to talk about?'

'Oh, I don't know,' said Campbell. 'How about the environment?' and he smiles.

'OK, she said. 'That could be an interesting topic. But let me ask you a question first. A horse, a cow, and a deer all eat the same stuff - grass. Yet a deer excretes little pellets, while a cow turns out a flat patty, and a horse produces clumps of dried grass. Why do you suppose that is?'

Campbell, visibly surprised by the little girl's intelligence, thinks about it and says, 'Hmmmm, I have no idea.'

To which the little girl replies, 'Do you really feel qualified to discuss the environment when you don't know s**t?'

Budd Campbell said...

Mason is a Liberal. He was a big supporter of David Emerson when Emerson was a Liberal and ran a piece on him during the 2006 election which was a straight propaganda screed.

When Emerson switched, poor Mr Mason nearly had a cardiac arrest.

Anonymous said...

Ouch!

Chevron gas stations here on the north shore have for the past six years had 3.5 cents off at the pumps and now.... there is no 3.5 cents off.

If motorists think they are getting ripped off by Gordon Campbell's Carbon tax of 2.4 cents per litre why are we being so silent on Chevron's gouging?

BC Mary said...

.
Oh, "poor Mr Mason" (wrote Budd Campbell) my elbow.

Even in jest, I can't handle the thought of giving Gary Mason an inch of leeway on his blatant shilling which he calls "opinion" or "news" or something.

First rule of the journalist: Keep yourself OUT of the story. Well, poor Mr Mason must've been home sick the day they taught that lesson at J-School because in Paragraph #1 he usually rushes to tell us how he FEELS about whatever he's planning to talk about.

Do we care? Do people pay any attention to what "poor Mr Mason" feels? Why does he try so hard to force his readers to his side of the discussion ... when a few hard facts would do the job better? "Enormous credit" ... "bold steps" ... "well-orchestrated" ... for a tax? Puh-leese, Gary dear.

I have often wondered why The Globe and Mail keeps him on the payroll. Is it the unfortunate measure of how little they comprehend of what British Columbians are like?

And Budd ... by "Liberal" do you mean Reform/Socred/CCRAP/Alliance/Gordo kind of Liberal? Or the Stephane Dion kind of Liberal Party of Canada? Man, when Gordo and Small Paul were trotting in tandem, it was quite a team, wasn't it? Plenty of dried grass then ... when BCRail went down.

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