A Solution for Road Infrastructures in Quebec

I may be only a blogger but, many ideas have started on this new media and made their way. I am also a citizen with a severe case of paying enough taxes and not getting a fair return on my money.

If I use the simple accounting principle that to spend more I need more income, or if you prefer I can’t spend more then what I earn and I apply it to governments, this often translate in a new tax or a new user fee. Personally, it’s the second option I prefer. This can be applied to the highway network for carriers, that are paying a road tax, and to other road users who are paying taxes on fuels.

My comments won’t get a unanimous support but could put a balm on the open wounds that our road network has in Quebec and this network may find the lost vitality, expand if these founds are totally applied to it.

The first idea is an old one and even my friend Jacques Plante, host on Livraison Speciale, talks about it once in a while. To have personalized licence plates. If I look the amount of these plates on the roads of Ontario and the invoice that follows, $237.30, this could be a new voluntary tax that could help the roadway network. With my caffeine addiction, I could choose LRG KFE if we are limited to 6 characters.

Another idea is to put a single fee to acquire the licence plate on top of the yearly registration fee. Many other administrations are doing it already. This could slow down the plate changing for any reasons, good or bad, and ease on the cost to the government to produce the plates.

Another irregularity I noticed in our registration system is the cost to licence a trailer. This is where a user fee rate could be applied. I ask you this question: Is it normal that licensing a 3’X7’ utility trailer cost is the same as a 53’ four axels, $67.00, and the registration is permanent?

My answer is no. Why? I don’t think nobody will ever load up a utility trailer pulled by an every day car with the same payload. This trailer may never roll in its lifetime the distance a transport trailer does in a year. The idea is the same for a small trailer used for a commercial purpose. If our Ministers of Finance and of Transport take at heart the well being of the roadways, a modulation of the rates would create appreciated new revenues. An option to consider is to stop the permanent licensing on commercial trailers. This includes all types of trailers. If there is a luxury tax and a high engine displacement tax on cars, a RV trailer could have a higher fee depending on the length. Here is the grid I suggest

Private utility trailer 45.00 permanent
Tent trailer 60.00 permanent
27’ or less RV trailer 75.00 permanent
27’ or more RV trailer 100.00 permanent
Commercial utility trailer 25.00 yearly
Transport trailer 2 axels 45.00 yearly
Additional axel 15.00 yearly

Considering that an escape of registration outside of the province is possible, it should be mandatory for a company that the main place of business is in Quebec to have their trailers registered in Quebec. It could be the same for the power units.

For a carrier whose main place of business is in Quebec, it would only be normal to have the fleet tagged in the province. Some exceptions could be considered for assigned units based to drivers in a satellite terminal out of Quebec and for local use trucks at that same place. The same principle can be applied to carriers out of Quebec for their satellite terminals in the province for their power units assigned to Quebec drivers and to local use trucks.

I already ear the FQCC, which I was a long time member, carriers association, lawn care people and others. Are we the main users of the roadways? Don’t forget I have put a very important condition.

These new founds are to be applied to the budgets of the Transport Ministry for roads and infrastructures only.

Jean Catudal