WHEREAS the use of a public transit system promotes economic benefits, assists in reducing harmful air emissions and contributes to the reduction in the use of fossil fuels; AND WHEREAS if users of public transit systems were provided an opportunity to claim their user costs as a tax-exempt benefit, there would be increased use of public transit systems: THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the Union of BC Municipalities and the Federation of Canadian Municipalities pursue the issue of tax exempt transit benefits with both the provincial and federal governments.
Ministry of Finance Under the Canada-BC tax collection agreement, the federal government has sole responsibility for determining income subject to taxation, including the tax treatment of transit benefits. The benefits of this agreement are low administration costs and the fact that taxpayers need only file one tax return each year.