‘Nova Scotians are taxed enough,’ Taxpayers Federation not sold on idea of highway tolls

The estimated cost to twin 300 kilometers of highway in Nova Scotia is $2 billion dollars, according to a newly released feasibility study commissioned by the provincial government.

The steep cost has government looking for feedback on what they should do. One of the suggestions in the study is to look at adding tolls to help pay for the cost.

For many people, a toll is a small price to pay to finally see eight distinct sections of highway in Nova Scotia twinned.

“I know the province is in a difficult situation and infrastructure money has to come from somewhere, paying a toll if that’s the need in order to twin the highway, I think twinning the highway should be a priority,” said Anna Laurence.

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "I know the province is in a difficult situation and infrastructure money has to come from somewhere, paying a toll if that's the need in order to twin the highway, I think twinning the highway should be a priority," said Anna Laurence.

“It seems twinning saves lives and we cant afford to do it right now, so maybe tolls on the highest traffic ones,” added Catherine Bowldy.

Not everyone agrees that tolls are the way to go.

“I would be opposed to that idea,” said Joshua Amero. “To take money from people when we could easily get that money from other aspects of our government. Ie: paying proper taxes, taxing the people that make the most money.”

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "I would be opposed to that idea," said Joshua Amero. "To take money from people when we could easily get that money from other aspects of our government. Ie: paying proper taxes, taxing the people that make the most money."

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“What happens too often is government sees a problem and the first reaction is to go to the taxpayer to ask for more money,” said Kevin Lacey, Canadian Taxpayers Federation. “Enough is enough, Nova Scotians are taxed enough.”

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "What happens too often is government sees a problem and the first reaction is to go to the taxpayer to ask for more money," said Kevin Lacey, Canadian Taxpayers Federation. "Enough is enough, Nova Scotians are taxed enough."

Lacey says government should be able to use the resources that they already have to build the roads they need, without adding tolls.

“There’s already four taxes on a litre of gasoline. Every time you go to fill up at the pump, the price that you see, 40% of that is tax and now the government wants to add one more toll on top of those already high taxes,” said Lacey.

He says tolls could disproportionately affect some people. Based on estimates provided in the feasibility study, Lacey says adding tolls could cost motorists up to $8 a day if they were using Highway 103.

“If you live in rural Nova Scotia, particularly if you commute everyday into the city, that’s where your going to get hit the hardest.”

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "If you live in rural Nova Scotia, particularly if you commute everyday into the city, that's where your going to get hit the hardest."

For their part, government says they haven’t made any decisions yet about twinning and are looking for feedback from Nova Scotians.

Public consultations on the feasibility study are expected to start soon.