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Home My WebLink AboutThe Goderich Signal-Star, 2009-05-20, Page 6Page 6 - Godench Signal -Star, Wednesday, May 20 2009 Editorial www.goderichsignalstar.com Proprietor and published by Butt e5 Publishers. P.O. 8it.i 220. 120 11u(kins .1treel. (;uderu h. Ontario EDITORIAL Gasoline tax helps pay true cost of driving Among all the evil taxes out there, and there are so many, surely gasoline is not one of them. Yet the point of this week's 1 I th annual Gas Tax Honesty Day, organized by the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, is to remind Canadians they are paying too much of it - $5.9 billion in federal gas taxes this year. The organization believes it should be lowered by five cents a litre, and that we deserve a Gas Tax Accountability Act. The latter may not be such a bad idea. Such an act would help Canadians understand just exactly where the gas tax money goes. At the moment, says CTF spokesperson Kevin Gaudet, "it's nothing but an absolute revenue grab, and it's not clear what they've spent on roads, bridges and highways." But it may also reveal ,the true cost of automobiles in our society. We need roads, bridges and highways to be sure. And they can always use more improvement than governments seem willing to commit to them. But there are other costs beyond simply laying down asphalt: economic, environmental, social and political. It seems easily justifiable, for example, to spend some of that gas tax on public transit, an idea the CTF rejects. Nevertheless, the Ontario government is now sending, and rightly so, munic- ipalities two cents a litre of the money it collects from taxes for just that. In the long run, public transit saves taxpayers money. reduces traffic, helps the economy and the environment. Gas taxes also remind motorists that driving is not free and should not be subsidized by those who don't use it to the same extent. Public transit helps motorists by easing traffic. It helps make cities more livable. It is more environmentally friendly, and inevitably, it will be more efficient — and in most cases already is. Why shouldn't motorists help subsidize it? Other taxpayers are subsidizing motorists, after all. Health costs related to pollution and vehicle collisions are just the tip of the iceberg. Gasoline tax in North America is a mere fraction of what it is in many other countries in Europe and across Asia. The result of relatively inexpensive gasoline is that the car here is still king, and traffic, suburban sprawl, urban decay, smog, environmental degradation, insurance costs, health care costs, just to name a few, are all getting worse. Not only should we not reduce gasoline taxes, it is inevitable, though undoubtedly unpalatable politically, that they will rise in the future to better reflect reality and the true cost of car travel. (Sun Media) N 7.4 4B6 1 Manny Ramirez caught. +. Kin 91 a female f er--i .+y drug Could This load.. -to 'Mar, a pause? 6.6.0,),09 Vets to march at Dutch Monument To the Editor; Sixty-five years ago on June 6, the greatest armada ever assembled left the shore of the United Kingdom. Destination - Normandy. Objective - to rid Europe of the Nazis and turn over that mag- nificent word "Freedom" to millions of citizens who will be liberated. The boats contained thousands of frustrated men, many didn't return. Hundreds of books and speeches have been written and spoken and history certainly was cre- ated big time. Freedom was never more gratefully accepted. "Thank you. boys, thank you;' is the Dutch war cry and has been passed on down through the generations. Hence, a large portion of our present citizens here eventually arrived with sleeves rolled up, spitting on their hands and went to work. Now. we dedicate a portion of Highway 21 to he named "Bluewater Veterans Highway." Very few of the boys who participated on D Day ........ The Gimlet -0i Signal Star. published every Wednesday al G.Klrrr. h. Ontario is a,; of The Signal -Star Publishing (in►ul of Commands' Ness papers. n division .1 Bowes Publishers. Tlrr G•.deru h Signal Star shall not he Roble for failure to publish an ad /or tslr.•traphi. ul ernss in publication rtrept t • the e'rtent of the . ast . •1 that portion of the ad rn ss hie h the rrmr i' eurrrd The (indetrrh .Sign,il-Snit irsrnes the right to aa,-. i or edit tilt% orb-errnemem The Goderich Signal -Star is a 'maid member .f dh. Canadian (",mmunits Newspa1wrt .4ss.r ean,m teCN4i and The i)ntario Community Newspapers Aiwsanan IOC/sal- e CUOMO «tea 1-:(11toria1 Deadlines... Advertising Deadlines Entertainment, Births, In Memoriant_s... Classifieds... Display Advertising... Telephone Fax.... Publisher... Reporters... Monday at 10 am Deaths, Friday at 3 pm Monday at noon Monday at noon 519-524-2614 519-524-5145 . i)a t'e Sykes Dominique Milburn Gerard Crecc's Denny Scott 40 Letters opinion (and the following 11 months) are still with us. Those here today can still hold their heads high. We do not hesitate to use those immortal words, "Bless them all:* A ceremony will be held at the Dutch Monument on Victoria Street in Goderich on Saturday, June 6, at 10:30 a.m. to rename the portion of Highway 21 from Goderich to Kincardine "Bluewater Veterans Highway:" As this will probably be the last parade for the remaining • survivors still with us, they would appreciate every possible person available to attend. Lest We Forget. Colin MacMillan, Legion Branch 109 (-lassifieds k Subscription... Accounting... Office Manager... Display Sales... Advertising Manager... 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