Faye 4, The Horald, Monday, December 41, 167 TERRACE/BKETIMAT a daily herald GanaralGHice- 635.4357 — Published by Clreulation - 635-6357 Sterling Publishers GEN. MANAGER - Knox Coupland EDITOR : Greg Middleton CIRCULATION - TERRACE - 435-635? KETIMAT OFFICE - 632-2747 Published every weekday at 3212 Kalum Street. Terrace, B.C. A member of Varified Circulatlon. Authorized as second class mall. Registrailon number 1201, Postage paid In cash, return postage guaranteed, NOTICE OF COPYRIGHT The Herald retains full, complete and sole capyright in any adveriiszement produced and-or any editorial or photogrsphic content published in the Herald. Reproduction is nat permitted without the written permission of the Publisher. TAX TALK Maybe it’s been a good year, or perhaps 1980 will be better. Whether it’s been the best or the worst of times, you'll be paying taxes. Tax planning is a year-round activity, but by year- end, there are a number of decisions you can make that could save you some money at tax time. For most taxpayers, the tax-paying year ends on December 31st. Although your return will not be exactly the same as anyone else’s, there are a number of areas in which most taxpayers can take advantage of the various ways the tax laws allow you to shelter income or defer taxes. This column won't be an exact or complete check list, but it may point to a few areas that you could investigate more‘closely. Dispose of stock holdings to realize capital gains or losses, depending on which you need more. If you’ve had a good year, a loss on an unprofitable stock would be written off and allow you to shield some of your earnings in 1979. Alternatively, a capital gain could be used to offset losses that are unused in that year. Stock transactions through a stock exchange are considered to have taken place five business days after the actual trading date. The last ‘‘safe’”’ trading date in 1979 is Dec. 20, ‘ ; Business losses from the year 1974 expire at the end of this year. If losses from that year still exist, there are various ways in which they can be used, The most popular method is to reduce the current year's claim for capital cost allowance. If it has been a good year, it might be worth pur- chasing depreciable assets such as machinery, trucks, automobiles, equipment or other fixtures. This will increase the capital cost allowance for 1979 or protect against recapture of depreciation ina particular class of asset. Depreciable assets of a particular class could be disposed of to yield a terminal loss or recapture of depreciation, whichever is best. Cash-basis taxpayers should arrange payments and-or receipts to their advantage prior to the year- end. A farmer, for example, could purchase 1980's fertilizer needs in 1979. Charitable donations and political contributions should be reviewed or considered prior to the end of the year to take advantage of the tax credits involved. Gifts other than money may be made to a charity. Such gifts are generaily considered at fair market - value and the rules for capital gains, recaptured depreciation and so on will apply. These gifts may not create a capital loss and usually do not include property’ such as stocks, bonds or franchaises. Gifts to Her Maiesty and gifts of Canadian cultural property have special provisions which. could be at- tractive in most circumstances. For example, if you had acquired an art object for $10,000 which now has a fair market value of $50,000, a donation of the object would result in a capital gain of $40,000, half of which would be included in income for the year. However, the entire $50,000 would be a deduction from your income. And you can work out an agreement that allows you to donate something now; but have the Crown take possession at a future date or upon your passing. ; , Contributions to a Registered Home Ownership Savings Plan (RHOSP) are perhaps the purest form of tax shelter because, if properly used, the money is not - taxed at all. - oy If money is needed early in 1980, cantellation of a Registered Retirement Savings Plan should be con- sidered. If funds are required early In 1990, you might cancel a plan, roll part of it to 1980 and cancel that later, splitting the income into two taxation years. Exercising ernployee stock options may be prudent now, depending on other income for the year, Many factors must be considered, including the date the option was granted (if it is from a Canadian private corporation), the option price, the fair market value, potential future growth and whether or not the financing should take place with borrowed money. Special tax shelters may be considered prior to Dec. ist. These shelters may include: -a Multiple Unit Residential Building (or MURB) or : unit or share in a MURB for the allowable taxable loss, -investment in petroleum and natural gas property. - Investment in certified Canadian films. It would be wise to consult your tax advisor before making such an investment to be sure it fits in with your overall tax planning. Employees should consider making additional contributions to the employer's deferred profit- sharing plan. While this contribution is not deductible when it is made, it is not taxable when withdrawn. The income accruing on such contributions is not taxable until it is withdrawn from the deferred profit sharing plan (DPSP). Decisions on these options must be made by a taxpayer in time to take effect before Dec. 31, 1979. There is lots to do between now and the end of the vear Letters welcome The Herald welcomes its readers comments. Allletters to the editor of general public interest will be printed. We do, however, retain the right to refuse to print letters on grounds of possible libel or bad taste. We may also edit letters for style and length. All letters to be considered for publication must be signed. A comment on Kemano Dear Sir: . : One crucial aspect of the Kemano Two debate that has been ignored is the reason behind Alcan’s decision to proceed at this time. It is important to understand the corporate strategy of increasing hydro-electric production in order to comprehend Alcan’s thoughts. Our lack of information in this regard points out the most significant problem that Canadians face--the lack of contro) over our economic destiny. ' It is interesting that Alean's Brian Hemingway in a Dec. 19 radio interview failed to even address this - matter. Many groups have assumed that development. is planned immediately, simply due to the ‘cor- . poration’s water licence requirements. This could be a. severe problem in future debates. One thing that is quite evident is that no large transnational like Alean will commit what could be billions of dollars on pure speculation. Hemingway has allowed Northerners a glimpse into the direction of Alcan's public relations campaign. As ig usual, the corporation wishes to set the guidelines for dicusgion, Alcan wishes that the debate to centre solely on export dollars, industrial development and potential jabs. ; I emphasize the words development and potential for these are key concepts that Alcan would prefer not to have challenged. To many of us, development means diversification and stabilization of the economic base. Additions to aluminum capacity or power exports do not fall into this category. Emphasis on the ‘potential’ increase in jobs is most important. Alcan has, of course, made no committment to in- crease permanents employment but has only speculated on the possibility. Should Kemano be built simply for its power export potential, the Northwest would experience a net loss in jobs due to destruction of the fishing resource. . This may not be idle speculation. The international aluminum industry has displayed many features. of cartelisation. In fact, historicaily, it has entered into admitted associations for the purpose of price-fixing and market control, Joint ventures amongst major. aluminum transnationals have become increasingly numerous in the past decade. The Kemano project may be one of these area or ‘co-operation.’ Forbes, an American business journal, reported in its Feb. 1, 1977 edition that Kaiser was threatened with non-renewal of its power contract in the Northwest States. This power cutoff from the Bonneville Power Authority will take place in 1983, Has Alcan, through B.C. Hydro, committed itself to replace Bonneville? Collusion is widespread and many factors support this conclusion. These include Hydro’s recent move fo increase power export to 10 billion kilowatts annually. It is also supported by the recent announcements by President Carter on increases in ‘defence’ spending. A full 30 per cent of the American aluminum smelting capacity is in the Pacific Northwest states. Aluminum is an essential war material that the U.S. does not wish to lose control over to a foreign-country like Canada. Kemano power would adequately ensure that this did not happen and assure Alcan.a continuing profit as a private hydro producer. For the residents of this area, the net result is a loss of permanent employment and destruction of habitat. Those who are: detractors of this theory should rake a long and serious look at projects suchas James Bay and the net result of that Quebec development. A second possibility is that smelting facilities will be built to replace capacity in Japan. In that country, smelting is the product of oil-fired power generation. An anticipated downturn in economies based upon imported oil makes this a risky assumption at best. Even if it were a fact, it means that Canada would once again bein the position of job export to Japan in the secondary manufacturing sector. Certainly, this is not in the best interests of Canada and would further ensure our position of raw material exporter in the international economy. Normally, this situation is dubbed ‘growth’ without development’ by political economists, Further, it ties our industrial capacity even more directly to the economy of another foreign eountry. : : . As I have previously mentioned, the debate over Kemano Two will probably centre of the ‘fish vs. metal’ controversy. As oné can easily see, this only one, albeit, important factor. As Canadians we must take a long and intelligent look at the type of futre that is best for our nation. Transnational capital, enforced structural underdevelopment and unemployment are all related. Even the best outcome of Alean expansion is not necessarily good for our economy. Let Alcan commit itself to secondary industry and we will be further ahead. The fight over Kemano is more than just over the question of environmental integrity. It is also the fight over who should decide our future, people or a large transnational Cor- poration like Alcan. Fraternally, Paul Johnston government except Iran, By AL COLLETTI there is ne justification.— NEW YORK (CP) — In Two Students of terrorism photocopies of personal , messages by 33 of the -While there have been aome moderating ry the frustrating world of organized international terrorism, labels and words get mixed up and often mask the trut More often than not, violent acts of am such as murder and kidnapping are described in the print and electronic media as “executions” and = “hostage-taking.” For the terrorists — in many cases professional killers — extermination of opponents tends to expose dramatically a particular cause or grievance. Mialabelling auch acts af violence implies un- warranted justifleation for cold-blooded criminal activity, The tong imprisonment of Americans In thelr own embassy in Iran Ls a case In point embassy in Tehran on Nov, 4 by Iranian militants was a violent actof terrorlam, pure and simple, In violation of thelr most basic human rights, the Americans _ still prisoners, guarded and frozen from contact with each other. Under international law recognized by every and The seizure of the: no. matter the politics Involved — for main- taining an atmosphere of virtual solitary con- finement for the Americans in their own embassy. The Iranian militants continue to claim that they are students who took the rash action to force the return of the de- shah to atand trial for crimes against the Tranian people. The militants are in fact terrorists, whether or not they are acting under the stewardship of Iran's dictatorial leader, Aya- tollah Ruhollah Khomeini. They have kidnapped imprisoned American personnel for polliical gain in pressing their case against the shah and “United States crimes," . Who are these militants who call themaelves _ students? What schools do they attend? What subjects are they studying? Just what kind of political clout do they wield in the confused Iranian political scene? The Iranian revolutionary leadership has yet to answer suc queations. atatements by ranking Iranian government offi- cials, there appeara to be no real movement toward ending the ordeal of the prisoners. The ayatollah’s grim warning that Iran's confrontation with the U.S. is “a struggle bet- ween Islam and aganiam” that could ikely turn into war doean’t help the situation. Ordinary students could not have handled the propaganda machine developed by the Iranian milltants to promote thelr cAUse. . Rather, the situation at the embassy smella of a cleverly run Iranian intelligence operation aimed at extracting every bit of exposure available, especially thr ugh the use of electronic media. The four clergymen who visited the American prisoners on Christmas Eve were not allowed to hold the ecumenical service they had planned. Instead, they were allowed to see the prisoners only In groups of three to five. Adding to their humiliation, the clergymen were handed prisoners to their families in the United States — - through the locked front gate of the embassy com- pound. But editors working wherever there is a free presa have long memories in labelling people for what they Teally are, When Sir Oswald Mosley, British fascist, leader, was espousing his pro-Nazi sympathies during the Second World War, editors particularly in Canada became 80 incensed that they scorned his knighthood by referring to him as Mosley and not Sir Oswald. There la also the case of the outlawed Irish Republican Army when it atarted it’ y cam- ignofk.u.. , arson and ming in 1868. At first, the IRA killings often were referred to al “‘axecutions,’’ mot murders. But Canadian editors quickly labelled the so- called executions for what they were —- the knock on the door at imight and the sudden burst of gunshota at in- tended victims — in- tolerable terror and murder, OTTAWA OFFBEAT BY RICHARD JACKSON ‘Ottawa. - Hearty' holiday cheers for Miss Flora Isabel MacDonald, Conservative MP for Kingston and the Islands and Secretary of State for External Af- airs. . After years-two decades in fact—of dreamy-eyed do-goodism in her diplomatic department, she was bringing that never-never bureaucratic world of striped pants on the cocktail merry-go-round back to reality, vy . . If the Tories win the February election, she will be able to continue with the good workofreform. Sohetime down-her many years in Otlawa—first in the Tory, backrooms, then on their parliamentary backhenches and now, finally, as their Minister of External Affairs, it seemed to have occurred to her that ideally, Canadian diplomacy should be exercised for the benefit of Canadians. - oat It was Lester Pearson, ja External Affairs hand, then its minister, and in the end Prime Minister, who got it all backward in the first place. " He forever seemed to figure that External Affairs was a money funnel with its wide mouth in the pockets - of the Canadian taxpayers and its payont spout in the far corners of the world. : If they were complete strangers, never to see or know ys-but often to envy and hate us~they were to be ped. Even if they were enemies they were to be assisted. " and though they might be outlaws, guerillas and assasains of revolutionary regimes dedicated to the destruction of the West, they were to be financed. All in the name of Foreign Aid. : Into these international charitable gestures he poured out millions. . Perhaps it was the Nobel Prize going to his head. And nowhere did he cut such a swath as the global ‘pinup diplomat of all that was good and generous and forgiving of our enemies than at the United Nations, which, even in his day, came under the control of the Soviet Union, its satellites and the Third World. Poll after poll showed Canadians as dead-set against these foreign aid giveaways, but Pearson, and even Trudeau, if less enthusiastically, persisted. It seemed that turning the other cheek was good for ‘us. Well,-now at last, Our Flora was changing all that. __ And were the World Council of Churches and other .do-gooders in a holier-than:thou anit. - You should have heard them scream: that our . foreign aid should be shovelled out to ail who demand it-and without strings, "tt - Fora, blesg her heat; was nat againkt a reasonable sharing of the wealth with some of the less fortunate countries of the world: She just believed that when we got into these giveaways, there ought to be something in it for us. Something like a tie between the millions we give away and our economic interests. This is known as “‘tied aid,” and it behooves the country benefitting from our largesse to spend a little of it back here at home. No quid pro quo--or atleast a gesture—no deal. Then-Flora had this other idea that was upsetting ‘the do-gooders,who alwaya seem to presume that we “‘owerthe: Third Workt-asl¥ving, regardless of our own interests." "OT x Flora suggested--and has said so in’her speeches- that it could be questionable that we should shell out to those nations newly emerged from barbarism, and some of them not that far, who bad-mouth us, : Finally, Flora wondered about the United Nations, and about time somebody at External did. ' She suspected, as all taxpayers long have known, that the UN is an instrument of the Soviet and its guerilla nation allies. We not only are without in- fluence, but disliked and put down, on Funny thing, though, and Flora well knows it, the nations like Canada, the U.S., Britain, West Germany and the like who have the least to say, get little at- tention and generally are ignored by the Third World majority, pretty well finance the whole charade. is I e | . : A ; to ~ wh ond va Ong Spe " S som - ‘ ie hs ef; Pa . bad Pcs IR we bhatt ¢. ie . r' ' * see BCRIC. shares are going yp: HEAT i or agtLa Saige?