Tax the non-residents!

There's been some talk from certain corners that people who live outside of Calgary should have to pay to use our roads because they don't pay taxes in Calgary. Although that may sound like a good idea in theory, allow me to illustrate why it's the dumbest idea ever.

For starters, the 'let them pay' camp suggest that out-of-towners are getting a free ride and that Calgary citizens are subsidizing their use of our roads. The funny thing is, the people of Canmore probably could say the same thing about Calgarians. You want to use our trails and scare our bears? Deposit your fee on your way in.

The thing is, out-of-towners also live outside of town. That means they're not using up our real estate, clogging up our parks, filling our schools. Which leaves more for us. One thing they are doing for sure, is working and doing some shopping, otherwise, why are they on our roads?

Let's say that we did charge them to use our roads. What then? They would be more likely to stay away. This would result in stores and offices closing, which would severely reduce what we collect in taxes. So you see, we do get tax money from them, it just isn't as obvious.