Vancouver city council held a
‘Special meeting on Nov. 30th,
982. This was the last meeting of
ie old council — the new one was
‘t sworn in until Dec. 6, 1982. The
lurpose of the meeting was to
de what ‘‘assessment option,”’
uncil would select for the 1983
Assessment year.

Under provincial legislation
very municipality, by Nov. 30 of
h year, must select one of four
tions (called options A, B, C and
, formulated by the provincial
80vernment. Each option specifies
What percentage of the assessed

Harry

Rankin

Value of various types of property
'(esidential, commercial, industrial
| and utilities) will be taxable. The
_ Percentage differs in the four op-
,| tions — some of them shift more of
_ the burden of taxation onto homes,
Others onto business.

| . Council selected Option C. Last
| Year we were on Option B. Actually
there is very little difference bet-
' Ween the two. The simple fact is
| that all the options are unsatisfac-
tory. None of them is any good. All
Of them tax non-revenue property
_ {homes) too heavily, None of them
| Provide for a graduated tax on
_ business based on ability to pay.
Be The small business man struggling
| 1 get by pays the same mill rate as
| the big outfits like Eatons, The
i¢ Bay, Woodwards, the luxury
hotels and the banks. Taxes are not
based on ability to pay as they

|

Cee McIntosh
President

Merry Christmas
and a
Happy New Year

to our affiliates,
their members and families

Vancouver, New Westminster and District
B Building and Construction Trades Council

should be — this principle is
recognized in income tax where the
bigger the income the higher the
rate of taxation.

What makes the whole system of
property taxation still more unfair
is the fact that while assessments
under provincial law are supposed
to be based on market value, this
law is only applied to homes and
small businesses. Big commercial
and industrial properties are assess-
ed at only a fraction of their real
value, far below their market value.
The result is that they do not pay
their fair share of taxation. They

require expensive services — street
maintenances, water and sewer
facilities, police and fire protection
and bus service, but they don’t pay
the cost of these services. They are
subsidized by homeowners.

City council made the decision to
select Option C under. duress.
What choice is there when you have
to choose the ‘‘best”’ of four bad
options?

What complicates the matter still
further is that the whole thing may
have been an exercise in futility.
The government compels us by law
to make a choice of four options,
but it has already announced
publicly that in the first session of
the legislature in 1983 it will discard
the option system and introduce a
new method of taxation called a
differential or variable mill rate
which will go into effect in 1983.

Cy Sloan
Secretary-treasurer

MSOE SOE BEES BELO WERE VEE WERK VERE SOE VERE SOE PERE WEDK WERE EOE ERE

Season’s Greetings
to the labor movement

from the officers
and members

Canadian Union of Public
Employees Local 1004

Aan haga gn ge ign tga ge ign tga hgo dy

) BRITISH COLUMBIA
ax inequities unchanged

despite Socreds’ fiddling

A variable mill rate is one which
would enable municipal councils to
set a different mill rate for different
types of property. In itself it is
neither good nor bad; it depends on
how it isapplied. If councils use the
variable mill rate to place the main
burden of taxation on
homeowners, then the results will
be bad. If they use it to make big
business pay more (which is ex-
tremely unlikely given the present
composition of most councils in the
province) then it could be good.

Here, too, the provincial
government is muddling the situa-
tion still more.

First of all, it has announced that
the variable mill rate will apply only
to municipal property taxes for
general purposes. In the case of
Vancouver this means that only 40
percent of our property taxes will
be affected by the new variable
rate. It will not apply to school
taxes, for example.

Second, the minister of
municipal affairs has announced
that any tax changes made by
municipal councils must be limited
to five percent. This nullifies the
whole principle of the variable mill
rate.

Third, there is no provision for
a graduated mill rate that would
enable councils to levy taxes accor-
ding to ability to pay, with small
businesses paying a small tax and
big businesses paying a higher rate.

The juggling around of property
taxes that has become common
practice with our present provincial
government shows the need for a
drastic overhaul of the whole
system of property taxes.

First of all, municipalities need a
guaranteed source of income that
will make them independent of the
whims of politicians in Victoria.
Among the methods used to
achieve this could be a statutory
sharing of provincial governmen
taxes and revenues. :

Second, non-revenue proper-
ties (homes) should be taxed only
for the services they get directly —
police and fire protection, water
and sewer, streets and lighting.
They should not be taxed to raise
money for general revenue nor for
education.

Third, big commercial and in-
dustrial properties should be
assessed at their true market value,
with a graduated mill rate based on
ability to pay.

COPE aldermen will be
devoting much of their time in the
next few months to this vital ques-
tion and will be coming up with
some realistic solutions. —

Mego Bygn Age. ger Byer tage (igi

SESE PERE PSOE LSOE PSOE PSOE YES YEO ROK WERE WERE EOE YEE YEE VO

‘Blame Canada Post’

TRIBUNE PHOTO — SEAN GRIFFIN

The Canadian Union of Postal Workers set up information
pickets Dec. 10 to tell the public that long waits at wickets and
poor delivery is the result of inadequate staffing and no fault
of CUPW. The union has urged consumers to phone 666-1492
in Vancouver or write Canada Post president Michael Warren
in Ottawa demanding that staff be increased to meet
customer needs.

SPS SES BST BPR BEEK PSK EK SES BEEN BE BEEK PEE PSE VK EN BK SES BEL ES BIOL BSL

Season’s Greetings

from the
officers
and staff
Retail Clerks
Union Local 1518

SPS SESS BE PSS BERS BEE ES PSES PEK BES PSS YES PES YES LS LEE LSS BEES EE SESS
sos ae rate ert eats cememees a cea iee Gere

x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
iy
4
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4

Season's Greetings

to our members,
friends and supporters
in the labor movement

’ UNITED FISHERMEN AND
ALLIED WORKERS UNION

Vancouver Fishermen’s Local 1

5
H
Hy
By
BY
Hy
By
1
i
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Season’s Greetings |

from the

Marine Workers

and Boilermakers

Industrial Union
Local 1

w

PACIFIC TRIBUNE—DECEMBER 17, 1982— Page