Since moving to BC quite a few years ago, I have been more or less fuming over the taxes one has to pay for a used vehicle that was privately sold and bought by a private buyer. Not only that, but also the practice of ICBC - in case I got the vehicle for a good bargain - to tell me that the average price for that particular vehicle is, let's say, a few hundred dollars more than what I paid for it, meaning, they want more taxes and I am not allowed to buy a vehicle for less than the market price?

What if the seller is motivated and offers the vehicle for a few thousand less than the average price and I go to ICBC and they refuse to insure that vehicle?

As you know, here in BC you “have” to insure the first $200,000 liability at ICBC, plus the plates, plus all other phoney charges, which in itself is not even remotely democratic, nor are their premiums fair. They are simply outrageously, so a private insurer charges me far less for the other $1.8 million if I want the $2 million liability.

What I meant to convey is, each time a vehicle is sold - first from the dealer, then from the next buyer and so on, the BC Government is collecting taxes on taxes etc.

We have been residing in the Yukon and Alberta and in each one you pay for the same coverage, less than half what people are forced to pay in BC. Well, I have heard, not for the first time that, if I don't like this "system", I should maybe move somewhere else.

So, is it democratic and fair from the BC government to charge the buyer, of a used vehicle from a private sale, taxes?

Rainer Nissen