December 17, 2007

 

 

Honourable Jim Flaherty                                                Honourable Lawrence Cannon

Minister of Finance                                                        Minister of Transport

21st Floor, 110 O’Connor Street                                        Place de Ville, 300 Sparks Street

Ottawa, ON K1A 0G5                                                                 Ottawa, ON K1A 0N5

 

Dear Ministers,

 

I understand the Government is considering federal tax law changes to allow employer-provided transit benefits to be tax-free for employees. This would give employers a strong incentive to actively support employee transit use. Such a policy has applied for years in the U.S. and was also recently established in the U.K. I wish to express my support for Canadian adoption of this policy.

 

This policy would provide many significant benefits:

  • Significantly increase Canadian public transit ridership.
  • Directly benefit hundred of thousands Canadian workers. Employees would see savings every time they purchase tickets or passes and ride transit.
  • Leverage employer funds to give commuters a significant incentive to shift mode.
  • Increase transit revenues and increase overall transit system productivity.
  • Reduce energy consumption and pollution emissions, and help meet Canada’s international emission reduction commitments.
  • Reduce traffic congestion, road and parking facility costs, and traffic accidents, increasing economic productivity.
  • Complement Budget 2006’s public transit tax credit.
  • Be a Canada-based environmental policy.

 

 

Federal government sponsored research indicates that this policy is very cost effective overall (IBI, 1999, Tax Exempt Status For Employer-Provided Transit Benefits, Transportation Issue Table, National Climate Change Process and Transport Canada). In fact, this policy reform ranked as the most cost-effective transport emission reduction strategy of dozens evaluated (Transportation Climate Change Table, 1999, Transportation and Climate Change: Options for Action, Transport Canada).

 

For these reasons I respectfully request early Government action to make employer-provided transit benefits tax-free for employees. 

 

Yours sincerely,

 

 

YOUR SIGNATURE