Doug Ccslhlins @ gel this straight @ IN THIS age of enlightenment and socialism all govern- ments exist to rob the people they govern, the only dif- j ference between them being that some do it more than others. In Manitoba, for example, they have just brought down a blatant ‘‘rob the rich’? budget, and if I were the rich I would move out, just In this province, Bill Vander Zalm did not come to power say- ing he had what it takes to take what we’ve got. So someone { should tell him that his supporters are giving vent to cries of pain over his recent budget. It is not easy to make my man Percy roll his eyes in anger over the Socreds, for instance. But there we were, having a nice din- her out, and Percy was telling the whole restaurant what a bum Bill is. Some of the friends at our table vote NDP, but Percy outclassed them as a critic of the party he us- ed to Inve. As far as he is concern- ed, the budget was a betrayal. “Is Vander Zalm going to be another Mulroney?”’ asked Percy in quivering tones? ‘‘Is he going to kick the people who voted for him in the ass?” One of our party, an accoun- tant, opined that the budget was an NDP budget. ‘‘That’s what it was,’’ he said, sobbing into his soup. Since then the vibes have become hoarser and coarser. Social Credit constituency offices have been flooded with calls from the outraged peasantry. But Bill & Co. are counting on the voters to have short memories. One would have thought, however, that Finance Minister Mel Couvelier could have been a little less arrogant over his astoun- ding real estate tax than he has been. Watching him on the box, he reminded me of Trudeau say- ing fuddle-duddle. The tax is heavier than any similar one in the country, and it | would have cost the government very little to nave given the less af- fluent homebuyer a chance by ex- cluding the first $100,000 from the levy. Ditto any first-time -buyer. The thing is just as dumb, in its way, as Brian Mulroney’s ill-fated attempt to penalize all of the old- age pensioners without consider- as they did in Cuba. ing whether they had a lot of money or none. So now the Socreds are seen as money-hungry ogres stamping on Dick and Jane as they try to set up house. What the Slam and Couvelier have done, of course, is to an- ticipate the federal ‘‘business transfer tax’’ under which we’re going to be hit on everything so that Ottawa can wasie more money on foreign aid and day | care. | To depicss us even further, the real estate folk are pointing out that there is a ‘‘muitiplier effect’? in the new tax that will spread through every stage of purchase. The’ tax -will be paid when a developer buys lots, for example. It will be paid again when the developer sells to a builder. And yet again when lot and house are sold to a buyer. Even Manitoba must be admir- ing the boldness of robbery like that. If you asked Couvelier about it, he would give you some guff | about how mortgage rates are down anyway and how on that ac- count nobody’s going to notice § what they have to give him. But that’s not the point, is it? The point is, when are we going to get a break? Gas prices go down, and the | bloody government steps right in and raises them. The British and U.S. post of- fices make money. Ours can’t, so this week we had another increase | in the cost of mailing a letter. And so it goes, “Inflation, government. It’s my guess that the real estate tax, or most of it, will be removed before the next election. But the next election is a long way off. My man Percy has been a loyal thy name is Socred. Right now, though, he’s reviewing his position. When he’s not chewing the carpet, that is. Woman charged with assault_ A 46-YEAR-OLD North Van- couver woman will appear for trial in North Vancouver provincial court June 3 on a charge of ag- gravated assault. 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