US to charge Canadians passenger inspection fees?

[world~citizen]

There is a proposal to charge Canadian cruise passengers "Passenger Inspection fees":

 

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/canada/breakingnews/obama-proposes-fee-for-canadian-visitors-to-the-us-in-draft-budget-116375959.html

[tcook052]

One more fee. :mad: It's become really taxing to travel to or through the USA.

[Cygneagile]

What is good for the goose is good for the gander. Then the Canadian authorities would have to charge other nationalities the same fee when entering Canadian soils.

This appears to be ridicules. Why would US try to make money that way?

[tcook052]

This appears to be ridicules. Why would US try to make money that way?

 

Because it can. Why else is there an an agricultural inspection fee currently being charged?

[iancal]

The US is not 'making money' on this. It is a user fee that defers the cost of security. And it is reasonable...especially when compared to the fees that Canada and Canadian airports charge, as well as some other countries....LHR for example.

[world~citizen]

We are going to see more and more fees being charged everywhere.

[soldham]

The US is not 'making money' on this. It is a user fee that defers the cost of security. And it is reasonable...especially when compared to the fees that Canada and Canadian airports charge, as well as some other countries....LHR for example.

 

Could you expound on that a bit more please?

[firechiefswife]

There is a proposal to charge Canadian cruise passengers "Passenger Inspection fees":

 

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/canada/breakingnews/obama-proposes-fee-for-canadian-visitors-to-the-us-in-draft-budget-116375959.html

 

:D WOW!!! I GET IT !!!

 

In 2012, I will continue to drive accross the USA/Canada border in my vehicle in the NEXUS lane for I will not be charged the $5.50. BUT will be able to use my European passport each and everytime I am at the airports and/or cruiseship/ports to avoid charges !

 

Hmmmm.....:rolleyes:

[mr green]

I was asked one time on a cruise, 'Why Canadians did not lke Americans'.

I replied that, while I liked American people, Canadians as a nation did not care for American policies, the main point being that outside interests were seldom considered.

When looking at the above , one has to ask. 'What prompted the question in the first place?'

 

john

[tcook052]

It is a user fee that defers the cost of security.

 

There already "security" charges in place that are supposed to defer those costs. Despite the contention that more money will be spent inspecting IMHO it seems like a quick cash grab to exempt neighbors from the fee already charged to all other countries.

 

And it is reasonable...

 

Opinions obviously vary.

[iancal]

Just one of the reasons why Canadian air fares are so high is because of the multiple levels of taxes, fees etc. Take a close look at the typical Canadian airfare. Embedded in the price, though sometimes visible, you will see security charges, airport charges (I think here in Calgary it is about $9, Vancouver is the same or slightly higher and I am certain the Edmonton and Pearson are also well into the trough), GST, and whatnot. Since Canada moved responsibility for airports from the federal government to local governing bodies local airport taxes have become the norm. We really notice how much higher Canadian taxes are when we compare fares from Vancouver to fares from Seattle or Bellingham to FLL, MIA, or PBI. They call it user fees and to a certain extent I have to agree with it. Break down the tax component of each of the fares and you will notice the differences. Do a google on LHR fees or fees in other European countries.

[TTFromSommersTown]

What is totally wrong with the proposal is that the US wishes to charge just non US citizens these fees. If they charged everyone who entered the US an additional charge to cover the extra costs, that would be more bearable.

One thing that must happen imediately, so that the US administrations knows the depth of feeling on this issue, is for the Canadian, Mexican and other effected Govenments to pass laws adding the same charge to all US citizens. This would take effect on the same day that the US charges do.

[iancal]

Governments always like to put taxes on people who do not vote...their second best option is to spring for the 'hidden' tax. Less hassle for the polititians at election time.....which is their paramount concern. I will have to pay that tax and I do not mind that only non Americans like me have to pay it. Americans are already footing an enormous tax burden for homeland security through their personal and corporate income tax structures.

[world~citizen]

...Americans are already footing an enormous tax burden for homeland security through their personal and corporate income tax structures.

 

...and here I thought they just extended tax breaks to (most controversially) the upper income tax brackets...

 

I'm going to send them 5 dollars. :D

[solocanadian]

The US is not 'making money' on this. It is a user fee that defers the cost of security. And it is reasonable...especially when compared to the fees that Canada and Canadian airports charge, as well as some other countries....LHR for example.

 

You think not??? See following from today's Vancouver Sun.

 

 

U.S. eyes $5.50 fee to enter country

 

Head tax on commercial air and marine travellers would not apply to vehicle traffic

 

BY IAN MACLEOD, POSTMEDIA NEWS; WITH FILES FROM ANDREA WOO, VANCOUVER SUN FEBRUARY 17, 2011

 

 

STORYPHOTOS ( 1 )

 

 

 

A worker shovels snow at Grouse Mountain in North Vancouver on Wednesday. Environment Canada is calling for more snow in Metro Vancouver this week. Today's forecast is for snow flurries or rain showers beginning in the morning. If it's snow, as much as two to four centimetres could accumulate. The temperature forecast for today is a low of 1 C, with a high of 4 C. Friday, there's a 60-per-cent chance of more flurries or rain, with a low of 1 C and a high of 5 C.

Photograph by: Nick Procaylo, PNG, Postmedia News; With Files From Andrea Woo, Vancouver Sun

The Obama administration wants Canadians to pay to enter the United States to help ease that country's desperate financial situation.

 

A proposed "passenger inspection" fee is outlined in the draft 2012 U.S. federal budget that has been sent to Congress. If adopted, the charge is expected to be levied against millions of commercial air and marine travellers from Canada, Mexico and the Caribbean, the only nations now exempt from the fee. It would generate about $110 million annually.

 

The fee would not apply to vehicle traffic.

 

With about 16 million Canadians flying to the U.S. each year, a $5.50 head-tax would raise almost $90 million of the annual total and help pay for more beefed-up U.S. border security.

 

Allison Wallace, a Vancouverbased spokeswoman for Flight Centre Canada, called the idea "illogical," saying it will deter some people from travelling to the U.S.

 

"Although $5.50 may not seem like a lot of money at the outset, travellers are fed up with fees and taxes, and this will not sit well with them," Wallace said.

 

"The U.S. should probably consider that when people travel, they spend money, thus providing revenue -it hardly makes sense to impose a fee and discourage that."

 

Thant Oo, manager at Vancouver's Rainbow Travel Inc., said while many passengers are fed up with existing security fees, airport taxes and fuel surcharges, a few more dollars probably won't have an impact.

 

"Obviously people don't want to pay more, but if they don't have a choice, $5 is not a big deal," Oo said. "People may not even notice that it's $5 more. Fuel charges, for example, where prices are raised $80 each way, that's a little different."

 

The proposed tariff follows a 2009 U.S. entry law requiring Canadians to carry passports and dampens hopes that border issues would be less of a sore point under the new administration, especially as Prime Minister Stephen Harper and President Barack Obama met in Washington this month to seek a sweeping deal to establish a North American security and trade perimeter.

 

"It's an indication that the United States is going to be looking to generate new moneys to offset their budget deficit on outsiders who don't vote -and that would be us," said Birgit Matthiesen, of Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters, Canada's largest trade and industry association. "The raising of any fees on the Canada-U.S. border is troubling."

 

Colin Robertson, a member of the team that negotiated the Free Trade Agreement with the U.S. and later helped implement the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), believes more U.S. cash grabs are coming.

 

"They will be looking everywhere to find money, so it wouldn't surprise me that our exemption is being lifted," said Robertson, a fellow of the Canadian Defence and Foreign Affairs Institute.

 

"Do I think we can succeed in pushing back? Probably not, given the desperate financial situation the States is in. But, obviously, we should make our best efforts.

 

"This is one where we should make a joint cause with Mexico. The push back [also] has to come through the airline industry and though the travel agencies in the States."

 

Officials with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which is proposing scrapping the fee exemption, did not respond to calls for comment. But an expert on Canada-U.S. relations advises Canadians not to jump to conclusions about the administration's attitude toward Canada.

 

"Don't worry that Obama is not your friend," said Christopher Sands, a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute in Washington.

 

"We're in a fiscal mess and just about all agencies are looking for ways they can get a little more money, whatever it takes, so that the president doesn't get accused of a tax increase. It isn't necessarily intended for Canada," he added.

 

"If the fee is something Canadians really would find problematic, they ought to raise a ruckus, not necessarily beat the administration over the head with it, but make it clear to the [u.S.] business community that this would be an additional impediment on trade. If Congress [agrees to] the fee then ... through some focused diplomacy ... Harper can go to Obama and say, 'Before we ink this deal on a perimeter, I'd like to have you reconsider the fee.'"

 

Under NAFTA, Canadians were hit with the same passenger inspection fee beginning in 1994, but were exempted in late 1997 at the insistence of a group of border-state congressmen who argued it was bad for cross-border commerce.

 

Sands suggests the U.S. passport law may have led to the proposed reimposition of the fee by the U.S. Customs and Border Protection service, part of DHS.

 

"Now [that] you've eliminated the documentary basis for treating this class of enterers differently, why not impose the fee on them like everybody else? You can see the logic of this coming out of [the bureaucracy]," he said.

 

News of the proposed lifting of Canada's fee exemption comes as Canadian airlines, hoteliers and others in the tourism industry are urging the Harper government to eliminate the various taxes and fees charged on air travel, which they argue are raising fares and sending an increasing number of Canadians south of the border in search of cheaper flights.

 

© Copyright © The Vancouver Sun

 

 

 

E-mail this Article

Print this Article

Share this Article

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

STORY TOOLS

 

E-mail this Article

Print this Article

Share this Article

 

Font:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

RELATED TOPICS

 

Canada

United States

Business

 

 

 

 

 

HOT PHOTOS AND VIDEOS

 

NEWSSPORTSENTERTAINMENTVIDEOS

 

 

The 10 worst U.S. airports, based on 2010 data

 

 

How much are you impacted by the HST, according to the StatCan report?

 

 

 

Religious devotees walk through fire at annual festival in Thailand

 

 

Pro- and anti-government protesters clash in Yemen

 

 

 

Justin Bieber thrills fans as he attends the European premiere of his new movie in London

 

 

Global food crisis forcing more people into poverty

 

 

More photos >>

 

MOST POPULAR - BUSINESS

MOST READE-MAILEDCOMMENTED

 

U.S. ponders $5.50 entry tax for Canadian air, marine travellers

Strong demand for Olympic village condos stuns realtor

U.S. eyes $5.50 fee to enter country

Bieksa may be joining the rest of his injured mates tonight in Nashville

Lululemon to complete purchase of Kitsilano headquarters in March

B.C. man works 52 jobs in 52 weeks

 

more »

 

 

 

 

BREAKING NEWS ALERTS

 

Sign up to receive e-mail alerts on breaking news from The Vancouver Sun.

 

 

 

Our Privacy Statement

 

MORE BUSINESS HEADLINES »

Budget safe after cyber attack, Ottawa says

Treasury Board President Stockwell Day said Thursday the government was able to 'slam the door' on a 'significant' cyber attack reportedly from China ...

1 HOUR AGO

COMMENTS (0)

 

 

Ottawa drives backward down the info highway

 

2 HOURS AGO

 

 

TransCanada hikes dividend 5%

 

 

 

Husky Energy profit slips on pipeline shutdown

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Read more: http://www.vancouversun.com/business/eyes+enter+country/4299558/story.html#ixzz1EF1yKh87

[YXU AC*SE]

Existing fees today -- sample one way fares for next Wednesday, priced in USD for consistency.

 

 

London, ON (YXU) to Chicago (ORD)

 

Fare 1: Carrier AC H3TP YXU to CHI Passenger type ADT, one-way fare, booking code H Covers YXU-ORD (Coach) $280.75

 

US Flight Segment Tax (ZP) $3.70

US Transportation Tax (US) $21.06

USDA APHIS Fee (XA) $5.00

US Immigration Fee (XY) $7.00

 

Canadian Harmonized Sales Tax (ON) (RC) $2.00

Canadian Air Travelers Security Charge (CA) $12.20

Canadian Goods and Services Tax (XG) $14.60

 

London Ontario Airport Improvement Fee (SQ) $15.20

 

TOTAL AIRFARE & TAXES $361.76

 

 

And now in reverse:

 

Fare 1: Carrier AC H3TP CHI to YXU Passenger type ADT, one-way fare, booking code H Covers ORD-YXU (Coach) $277.50

 

US Transportation Tax (US) $20.81

US September 11th Security Fee (AY) $2.50

US Passenger Facility Charge (XF) $4.50

US Flight Segment Tax (ZP) $3.70

 

TOTAL AIRFARE & TAXES $309.01

 

Included in the base fare in both directions is a 7.50$ USD NAV Canada service charge which is remitted for the costs of air traffic control.

 

All to say, on either side of the border there is no shortage of taxes to be paid, and accessorial charges remitted, but the same flight / same fare bucket going the opposite direction is still 52.75$ cheaper, originating from the US, primarily due to HST and AIF (airport improvement fees)

 

 

Scott.

[tcook052]

We really notice how much higher Canadian taxes are when we compare fares from Vancouver to fares from Seattle or Bellingham to FLL, MIA, or PBI. They call it user fees and to a certain extent I have to agree with it.

 

Fewer users = higher user fees and recall that the U.S. has ten times the population so more users means lower user fees.

[taxmantoo]

Fewer users = higher user fees and recall that the U.S. has ten times the population so more users means lower user fees.

 

How would you then explain Heathrow's user airport fees which are among the highest in the world? It is also one of the busiest airports.

[Dutch Explorers]

Existing fees today -- sample one way fares for next Wednesday, priced in USD for consistency.

 

 

London, ON (YXU) to Chicago (ORD)

 

Fare 1: Carrier AC H3TP YXU to CHI Passenger type ADT, one-way fare, booking code H Covers YXU-ORD (Coach) $280.75

 

US Flight Segment Tax (ZP) $3.70

US Transportation Tax (US) $21.06

USDA APHIS Fee (XA) $5.00

US Immigration Fee (XY) $7.00

 

Canadian Harmonized Sales Tax (ON) (RC) $2.00

Canadian Air Travelers Security Charge (CA) $12.20

Canadian Goods and Services Tax (XG) $14.60

 

London Ontario Airport Improvement Fee (SQ) $15.20

 

TOTAL AIRFARE & TAXES $361.76

 

 

And now in reverse:

 

Fare 1: Carrier AC H3TP CHI to YXU Passenger type ADT, one-way fare, booking code H Covers ORD-YXU (Coach) $277.50

 

US Transportation Tax (US) $20.81

US September 11th Security Fee (AY) $2.50

US Passenger Facility Charge (XF) $4.50

US Flight Segment Tax (ZP) $3.70

 

TOTAL AIRFARE & TAXES $309.01

 

Included in the base fare in both directions is a 7.50$ USD NAV Canada service charge which is remitted for the costs of air traffic control.

 

All to say, on either side of the border there is no shortage of taxes to be paid, and accessorial charges remitted, but the same flight / same fare bucket going the opposite direction is still 52.75$ cheaper, originating from the US, primarily due to HST and AIF (airport improvement fees)

 

 

Scott.

 

 

Actually what you proved with this example is that the US is charging more tax.

In both directions the US us charging tax while there CA taxes only occur for deprating flights ex Canada.

 

Marco.

[iancal]

If you think those taxes and fees are high consider what an working person has to earn net of taxes has to earn in order to pay for the flight. Then add the income tax and the taxes associated with the ticket. Now see what percentage of tax the individual is really paying on his/her groos earnings (and this ignores corporate airline tax, fuel tax, etc). If you do this excerise it will make you ill. And London, Ontarios airport is far from deserving of a $1520 fee!

[mr green]

This point has been raised on our Canadian TV, it would appear that the proposed would bring about more far more annoyance, and ill will, than the financial pittance would bring in.

 

john

[kazu]

In today's paper in Canada, is a write up on how many Canadians go to the States to fly - I wonder if they will be stuck with this tax too - don't think so as most of them drive.

 

the bottom line - if the US does it undoubtedly, there will be a reciprocity tax here in return (similar to going to South America)

 

Not too much any of us can do about it really - except fly to Europe :):):)

[mr green]

 

the bottom line - if the US does it undoubtedly, there will be a reciprocity tax here in return (similar to going to South America)

 

 

I don't believe this. Canadians need US visitors more than they need Canadians, as it is not as many US citizens are crossing the boarder due to the value of our dollar, and the lack of passports. Bottom line is we can't afford to sink to the level of a reciprocal tax.

 

john

[sail7seas]

Doesn't seem to me this is a very 'neighborly' thing to do. :( It embarrasses me.

 

[jcrandle]

You should all just be happy that in addition to charging an inspection fee, there is no extra charge for all of the latex gloves that we will have to buy.:D