Drivers in British Columbia pay more at the pumps with new gas tax in effect

The plan will be phased in over five years to allow drivers to understand that there's a cost associated with generating greenhouse gases. The tax works out to an extra 2.4 cents a litre on gas, rising to 7.24 cents per litre by 2012.

In Vancouver, drivers at gas stations were pumped on the plan - and not necessarily in a good way.

Stephanie Bincinto recently moved to B.C. from Quebec for her job as a flight attendant. She said the high price of gasoline helped her make the decision not to buy a vehicle.

"It sucks," she said, as she pumped regular gas at 148 cents a litre into a rental truck. "I was looking to buy a new one, but now with the price of gas I'm not interested.

"It's too much with gas and insurance so no, for me it's not worth it."

She had rented the truck for the day to help her move and said she'll use taxis to get to work.

Bincinto said she figures the rising price of fuel could ultimately put her out of work.

"Eventually it's going to affect my job because of the fuelling of the planes," she said. "I'll probably get laid off. So that's not good at all. Hopefully it'll go down."

Fuelling up at a west end Vancouver gas station, Dan Bonello said he'd just moved from Sydney, Australia and bought his brother's truck to move up to Whistler.

He said although he was used to high gas prices back home, the increase still hurts.

"People are struggling to pay rent and everything's inflating every year, so petrol's just another thing that digs into your allowance," he said.

British Columbians already pay a 3.5-cent-per-litre gasoline tax to help fund transportation projects.

The carbon tax is being billed as revenue neutral, which means the government will not use money generated from the tax to fill its coffers. It is expected to bring in more than $1 billion in revenue that will be returned through income and business tax breaks.

All residents of the province were also expected to receive a $100 Climate Action Dividend, which were sent out in June. The one-time cheque was meant to encourage residents of the province to make environmentally friendly changes in their life.

Opposition to the tax was voiced throughout the province, including rural areas.

Jeff Payne is general manager for the gas co-operative in the Okanagan Valley community of Armstrong. He said most people coming into his station are upset with the tax because they have few alternatives to get around.

"I'd say a large percentage (of people here) use their own vehicle," he said. "They're angered because most of the public transit money goes to (other regions.)"

He called the public transit system in his area "pathetic," saying it only runs about four times a day, at inconvenient hours.

"There's older vehicles up here and they're driving great distances, so we need public transit."

British Columbia's NDP party has started an "Axe the Tax" campaign around the province.

Leader Carole James said the tax isn't fair because it doesn't apply to big industrial polluters and polls show most people oppose the levy.

Not everyone at the pump Tuesday was opposed to the new tax. Paul Brighton, who says it's too expensive to own a car, was filling up the rental vehicle he had for the day.

"You're driving a car right? Take the bus, buy a moped or something," he said.