A8 - Friday, August 17, 1984 - North Shore News n ‘User-friendly’ taxman as savage as ever were full A FEW MONTHS AGO the public prints of Revenue Canada _ horror stories. Seeing an issue, the Tories set up a task force that toured the country inviting people to tell them more. A motherlode of bitterness was un- covered and the Liberals needed a scapegoat. The deputy minister for taxa- tion was unloaded, and early in July Revenue Minister Roy MacLaren later issued a joy Statement. The tax depart- ment was going to be ‘‘user friendly,'’ he s@id. Mr. and Mrs. Lovelidge of West Vancouver must have been pleased to hear that -- jand curious as to why no one _‘pas been user friendly to them. They had had four ‘audits, you see, and after they told their sad story to the task force there was a fifth one. After MacLaren’s statement, that it. The Lovelidges are small business people -- just the sort that the politicians praise to high heaven. He quit a well-paid job in 1978 to satisfy the itch he had to work for himself, and after putung in 10-hour days and six-day weeks for the next five years they were doing all right and giving work to four other people. _a+~ An accountant handled their books, but when the tax man called in March, 1983, they were told they owed about $5,000. The accoun- tant had made an error. De- mand for payment of that sum was made verbally, Mrs. Lovelidge writes, and they were given no written assess- ment. So they didn’t pay. ‘*The only contact we had from Revenue Canada thereafter was from one of their collectors. Our repeated requests for an assessment were ignored. Without notice, Our accounts receivable were garnisheed (to our mortification) and our bank account was clean- ed out and frozen. Letters began arriving threatening my husband with jail. Still, no one would tell us exactly why we owed the government money. When we spoke to a supervisor, we were told we were not entitled to it (the assessment) until after we had paid. get this Doug: Collins RESTS ‘tin March of this year, the P.C. task force was in Van- couver. Frustrated and outraged, I testified before them with my = sorry tale. While the dollar amount would not be a lot of money to some, the issue of viola- tion of fairness, privacy and rights raised my Canadian dander. Perrin Beatty and his EE mailbox [><| Streets aren't playgrounds Dear Editor Recently, a family of very small children moved to our Predominantly adult neighbourhood. Now, these pre-schoolers are not only permitted to wander all over the area alone, but to race up and down the streets) on tricycles, bicycles and other free-wheeling contraptions These children are being ex posed to great danger and to date have been involved ina MERIT number of minor mishaps. One would think that this would serve as a warning to their parents. After all, they do have a large, fenced yard where the children could play in safety and surely they must realize that streets are not playgrounds. Sidewalks are intended for pedestrians Roads for automobiles. Concerned over the children’s safety, we had in- tended to approach the a | Ce 4 Vac parents regarding this issue. However, they ‘‘beal us to the punch’’, and their at- titude would be hilarious, if it was not so potentially disastrous. They actually had the temerity to deliver hand- written notices, cauuioning us to ‘‘Watch out for their children, playing up = and down the block!” E. Davis (Mrs.) North Vancouver .Design Studio Now Open eultra modem and traditional styles @ unique options ¢ excellent designers by ©complete remodelling MERIT Your Kitchen Centre - | 2401 Burrard Street, Vancouver, 6 . Canada V6} 3$3* Telephone: 736-7966 Living up to our name in beautiful katchens Also 12620 Boadigepon Rd Rac herr! 273 4085 19 BO Ave Newton SIO 2494 committee were most rece¢p- tive, and Ron Huntjaeton (bless him) worked wonders in putting the taxation jackals at bay. ‘“*The harrassment stopped immediately. (But) we were audited three times further, each audit puzzlingly resulting in a_ different amount owing. These amounts varied from $4,500 to just over $10,000. It seem- ed they just kept auditing un- til, satisfied, they decided we owed double the _ original amount. We had no recourse. Their word is final. We paid. ‘‘The matter concluded in June, 1984... Then, on July 9, we received a phone call from Revenue Canada telling us we were about to become the proud recipients of another, ‘random’ audit. ‘“‘Our present accountant and lawyer scoffed at our belief that we were being picked on -- until we told them about our task force testimony, that is. They then agreed that there could well be a connection between five audits in fifteen months and our official protest against heavy-handed government methods. Revenue Canada auditors are now sniffing around our accountant...’’. This story can’t be checked because -- quite properly -- the tax people never discuss an individual taxpayer’s af- fairs. But Mrs. Lovelidge’s letter exuded sincerity. And Tage. “The fifth audit could have been a freak of chance. Whether it was or not, this is the sort of experience that makes taxpayers feel murderous. Especially when they hear about the dough being passed to Bryce Mackasey and Co. The Lovelidges could com- plain to the minister. But something tell me he’s not going to be around after Sept. 4. Still, it’s nice to know that the tax department has been told to be ‘‘user friendly.’’ FREE rune-up Special 2 for 1 TUNE-UP SALE Bring your car for a tune-up, get the 2nd family car tuned-up for FREE. 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