6 ~ North Shores News — Wednesday, November 8, 2000 VIEW POINT: GST ori NYONE with a GST beef might want to add their applause to e efforts of Bill and Jo Ann Wedley. The tenacious West Vancouver cou- ple has waged a five-year battle with the. tax beast and won. Miracles do happen, citizens. As reported in the Nov. 5 News, the Wedleys’ fight revolves around the mis- guided B.C. property assessment prac- tice of including GST in the assessed value of a new home. When the Wedleys originally bought their Deer Ridge Drive penthouse for just more than $600,000 they paid close to $44,000 in GST and $10,000 in property transfer tax. The. initial GST. sting aside, the Wedleys later found that the tax had ‘been added to the assessed value of tax — property taxes based on assessed value —~ being paid on another tax — the GST. Rather than fume in silence over the inequity, Mr. Wedley, an SFU business professor, took it to court. As with any legal action involving government, the battle has been a long one. Bue in September, the B.C. Supreme Court agreed with = the Wedleys. The fight, however, is far from over. The Wedleys’ court victory applies only to their case. The B.C. Property Assessment Authority has no plans to change its GST policy. _ Collecting a tax on a tax is business as usual for government. And as Mr. Wedley has pointed out, most people are unaware that they’re being similarly penalized by the gov- ernment. The Wedleys’ court victory should pave the way for property their property —~ which resulted in a ‘mailbox - Vehicle’s levy shoul be based on its use Dear Editor: : - Has the- "CEO of TransLink, Ken Dobell, been watching The Sopranos or something? Extortion, and blackmail seems to _ be the way of the. world now when it comes to bleeding the : already dry taxpayer out of more money, I honestly believe. that TransLink never planned on charging the driver $75 per vehi- “de, it was always planned to charge an amount based on the vehicle’s: size. This is the only way that the politicians that : know better than us can tax us out of our vehicles. > “The true and only fair way to base a levy is, and always will : be; based on a vehicle’s insurance usage. 1 own a large truck but‘I'do not drive it to or fom work or school, my Kids walk to and from school, and my wife doesn’t use it for anything but “going t et groceries once or twice a week. We use transit to lowntown whenever possible. We own. such a vehicle, we like to camp, and own a camper, and haul a boat Nn a trailer. We have owned a smaii car, but frankly they are not ‘ safe and we prefer to protect our children and ourselves in the ‘ security that our truck provides. Why should people like us be into the same pile as every other large vehicle? -“ : Maybe Mayor ity. districts are speaking out against it, but our mayor ‘silent, as ‘usital. Back to my original comment ... ifi itis blackmail and extor-_ tion’ that Translink wants, maybe we homeowners within-the pay any should withhold our property taxes, of better yet fail to - r outstaiding fines. It seems to me that all the cians deserve is what they are trying to do to us! ‘ Steve “Case. Canada: ok “Canadian é Product ‘Agreement’ Ro. 585-2131 (116) ell should sit up and take notice. Maybe he ‘should start to listen to what is being said within his munici- _ assessment changes in B.C. ig Squamish face IT’S time for the Squamish Nation to join the North Shore Nation. Significant benefits could result for both. And there are positive signs that the two could be moving closer togeth- er. Nothing like a $92.5 million bonanza to take the chill off international relations. ; But there’s more than the recent federal settle- ment secured by the Squamish at the heart of Ripping Yarns’ optimism. There's the basic issue of communica- tion. . ; ; ‘Until recently external communication from the band to the outside world has “been guarded at best. Internal communica- tion from band leadership to its own mem- bers hasn’t been much better. And there remains much work to be done on both fronts. Since the March 10 death of Chief Joe _ Mathias, the band’s council has been : wrestling with its communications short- comings. The wrestling match has resulted in some improvements. . Its two-person cornmunications de art o ~ ment, created in January, now respon: external i inquirigs — something that in ast years happened occasionally or not at It has also ciated its own Internet Web |. site , which is used to post band information and press releases. How.many-dand members have the ”. ‘technology to take advantage of the site is unknown, but at least. the wired outside. "| world has immediate access to basic: ation. "code, which is part of the land manage: Hi PERSON iS: CAUGHT UPIN Caytanas iNaDeqUaTe Healt Cake ovsTem. € PHoTO-OP FOR THe caNDiDaTeS. GOING To BE IGNORGD AFTER NOVEMBER 27%. Vigan Tirescacnaee tig 61 weve Pte ex bn CL OOLO8: ne, The band’s leadership has twigged to the reality that unless it upgrades its com- munication skills the Squamish Nation won't have much ofa future. Isolated nation states “don’t work that well. . And the Squamish face some significant chal- lenges. Pd put housing near the top of that list. Down on “the rez.” a lot of Squamish don’t have. houses even though the band maintains it’s com- mitted to providing no- . cost housing to its membership. And many more have no certificates of possession (CPs) for the houses they're in. Those CPs provide band members with quasi-owner- ship of their houses and can be passed: down in wills to bonafide Squamish off spring. CPs have traditionally been issued by - , bin he Department of Indian Affairs. But the - last year of Bill C-49 has changed -*. that f r the Squamish. Officialry known as the First Nations Land Management Act, . the bill provides 14 native bands across Canada including the North Shore’s Squamish, local control over land use on their reserves.’ Once the band has drafted i its land tse ment act’s requirements, it will take over : the responsibility for issuing CPs to band members. But confusion i in that muddled : _area currently reigns. Some members have been told by the ” federal Department of Indian Affairs that ~ the Squamish band office is now in charge » of i issuing CPs; the band, meanwhile, is telling its members that the i dian Affairs ; LETTERS TO THE EDITOR must include your name, : full address and telephone. oni Sebmit Wa e-mall to: f ‘archer: : Creative Sesvioes Director # Ya 85-2131 (127): - a it week department i is still issuing those certificates. As to basic housing, the band’s Mission reserve is full; and its Capilano reserve is. fast getting that way. : ‘The development immediately south of” Marine Drive begun approximately ovo _ years ago will provide about 400 lots for.” ousing over the next five to seven years. But the band’s population is sith ale According to band councillor Harold ‘Calla, it’s projected to more than double in : the next 15 years — from the current” 3,000 to 7,000. That adds u toa signif cant land and housing crunch.” "3 ‘~ Enter the Porteau Cove deal. : An offshoot of the Squamish estuary land swap earlier this year between BC Rail - and the province was an agreement giving the band the option to purchase 13152 - acres of BC Rail pro perty on the north sid _, of Highway 99 at f Porteau Cove: The site’s - market value is estimated at $10.2 milli The band also-has an opti @ 10 purch an additional 240-acre chue of adjacent” Crown land for an additiossal $2 million: Band leadership sees one answer to its land and housing \ squeeze. But a hostof questions remain: how much will it cost to develop; how: much will it cost to service the property. "with water and electricity? ~ As mentioned, real private property. rights don’t exist “for “CPs don’t guarantee a la band mémber’s if the pais the! ’ says otherwise. So who wi Porteau fron which reserve pt who will get the best view, lots 564, 000 questions