We Vancouverites are a vain, self-absorbed bunch. What do you expect from the world’s most livable city? That title, ‘Best Place on Earth,’ really has gone straight to our heads. So perhaps it’s not surprising that complaining is our favourite pastime.

And boy did our Premier, Christy Clark, give us the opportunity to have a epic bitch session with the declaration of the #TransitReferendum. We haven’t had this much polarized civic teeth gnashing since the Olympics!

The referendum has provided us with a wide-open shooting range to target our perpetually inept whipping boy, TransLink. With a thoroughly incompetent communications department, throwing pies is both effortless and unchallenged. If the organization actually defended its record for once, maybe we Vancouverites would no longer be able to trudge out two of our most common grievances against the world: we’re overtaxed and TransLink is the bane of our existence.

The first one, while not TransLink’s myth to bust, is understandable. It feels like at every turn, we’re being nickel-and-dimed. Every year, property taxes go up, as do MSP premiums, Hydro rates, ferry fares — plus we have that darned carbon tax! In one of the most expensive places to live in the world! We just can’t seem to get a break.

But here’s the thing: claims of being overtaxed simply aren’t true.

B.C. taxes less than they were in the '80s

The Fraser Institute, Canada’s most economically conservative think tank, releases an annual report that examines the total tax burden in each province. Based on the amount of tax you pay to federal, provincial and municipal governments, it determines your Tax Freedom Day — the day that income you earned starts staying in your pocket. The earlier the day in the year, the lower your total tax burden.

While this sensationalistic approach obviously ignores the very valuable services you receive from the taxes you pay, it is fascinating what the report tells us.

In 1981, BC’s Tax Freedom Day was June 9th. By 2000, Tax Freedom Day peaked at June 29th. Last year, in 2014, Tax Freedom Day stood at June 6th. Translation: the total tax burden today, in British Columbia, is lower than it was in the 1980’s.

What’s even more interesting is that this decrease only exists in BC. All other provinces in Canada have a higher tax burden, and thus a later Tax Freedom Day, than they did in the 1980’s. That’s an impressive achievement for BC, at least from an fiscally conservative perspective.

To be clear, the Fraser Institute’s calculations include income taxes, sales taxes, payroll taxes and health premiums, property taxes, profit taxes, liquor and alcohol taxes, the carbon tax, gas taxes and motor vehicle licence taxes, import duties, and even natural resource levies.

TransLink actually is one of the world's best transit authorities

Now, for our second myth to bust, let’s tackle the dogma that says TransLink is wasteful and ineffective. Cries of mismanagement, waste, corruption, and incompetence have become so ingrained in the minds of Metro Vancouver residents that criticizing TransLink usually goes completely unchallenged.

It’s easy to think that a poodle, two SkyTrain breakdowns, and a delayed smart card project means the organization needs to be dissolved, but a look at the data shows that these issues, while legitimate, are like one-off viruses— and not symptomatic of systemic disease.

Todd Litman, a policy researcher from the Victoria Transport Policy Institute, released some detailed, if underreported, analyses that compared TransLink to other transit agencies across Canada and the United States. What he found will dumbfound even the most ardent complainers: TransLink is one of the best-performing, most efficient transit agencies among its peers.

Based primarily on the subsidy it needs from taxpayers to operate, TransLink outperforms agencies in Ottawa, Seattle, Portland, Minneapolis, Denver and Houston. When you compare TransLink to the performance of the multiple transit agencies operating in Greater Toronto, it bests them too.

Short perhaps of leading systems in the world’s biggest cities — New York, London, Hong Kong all come to mind — TransLink ranks at the top of its class.

Satisfaction with our exceptional transit service is reflected in quarterly customer service surveys. When ranking overall service out of 10, the bus system received a 7.8, SkyTrain received an 8.1, SeaBus received an 8.5, and West Coast Express received an 8.6. While there’s always room for improvement, these numbers show that the majority of us believe our transit system provides good-to-excellent service.

So, while I recognize that this plebiscite long ago turned into a rash debate driven primarily by reactive, individualistic emotions, here’s two things to consider over the next month before you submit your ballots: you are not overtaxed, and TransLink is one of the best transit agencies in North America.

So if you were thinking of voting 'no' on the plebiscite, have some sober second thought. Take the time to challenge your initial perceptions of this vote and examine the facts — and maybe you’ll find life in Vancouver isn’t nearly as bad as you think it is. And that maybe, instead of complaining about how terrible everything is for once, you’ll seize this plebiscite as an opportunity to actually make things better.