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 x x x x x 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 a i i i r he

Season’s Greetings |

from the

Marine Workers

and Boilermakers

Industrial Union Local 1

w

PACIFIC TRIBUNE—DECEMBER 17, 1982— Page