A Vancouver lawyer says fines for panhandling like the one now in effect in Salmon Arm is essentially a tax on the poor.

Acumen Law’s Kyla Lee says it is “backward thinking” from municipalities, while also deterring people in need who are trying to earn a living by panhandling.

On the Jason Hewlett Show, she also said it will be tough to enforce the fines.

“If you have these people who are earning this off the books, untaxed income from panhandling, the city has no means of collecting from them, particularly if they are people who are transient who don’t have any fixed address,” she said. “It’s difficult to compel them into some type of a bylaw hearing and then impose those sanctions.”

Lee adds the courts are also reluctant to impose fines on people who have no means of paying up.

“Because it is impossible to do that. You see places where people get numerous tickets for panhandling, and they just never pay them, and it just becomes a forever debt that’s owed to the city that holds people back from moving on in their lives and from advancing and becoming contributing members of society.”

She also said the bylaw in essence tells people in need that they now have no way to earn an income to get by.

“Maybe you can’t get a job because your resume is really bad, maybe you don’t have a resume. Maybe you have a mental health condition and this is how you earn your income. It sucks to be you, we’re not here to help you, we’re here to prohibit you from existing,” Lee noted.

“I can’t believe that a city council would be so backwards thinking to eliminate the ability of people who are in need to earn an income to get what they might need to get a leg up.”

The bylaw came into effect in Salmon Arm in May. City council last week voted to add the $50 fines, which staff say will only be used as a last resort.

The city of Penticton also recently approved a bylaw that prohibits people from sitting or lying on some streets and sidewalks downtown.