Page 6, March 21, 1

¥

979 - North Shore News

_ specific things on which their hard-earned tax

| A good.

generated by last summer’s famous California “tax |

revolt” has begun to: die down in recent months, ~*
but that dramatic political event has left at least |
one permanent legacy: a greatly heightened |

interest on the part of taxpayers everywhere, not
merely in. the:.size of their tax -bills but in’ the

dollars are spent.:In other words, if pay they
must, are they getting value for monéy?

Once you start going into
this question, of course, you
open up a real can of worms.
Who, in the end, is compet-
ent to judge value-for-money
in the tax field?

. Traditionally, the judge-
ment has been made by
governments alone on the
simple principle that govern-
ment must automatically
have a much better under-

. Standing of what is good for

_ shut

1

the people: than the people —

themselves have when it
comes to ‘spending the
people’s money.

On a number of occasions
in history the theory has
backfired, the most -notable
example being the Boston’
Tea Party and the subsequent
breakaway of the American
colonies from Britain because
they couldn’t see what return -

.on, their money they were

getting from King George.
But by and large the taxation
principle® that government
knows best—so pay up and
up—nevertheless
managed to survive right
down to the present day.

_ FATHER KNOWS BEST?

Government (whether at
the federal, provincial or

- municipal level) argues with

And now,

considerable logic that it is

the good
news

B.C. Finance Minister
Evan Wolfe has announced
that the 1979 mill rate to be

. levied on behalf of the

British Columbia
Assessment Authority will
be 1.430 mills.

“I am pleased to see that
the 1979 mill rate is less than
last year’s levy of 1.445 mills
and that the Authority has
met the budget restraints
imposed by the province for
1979,” Wolfe said.

The Minister stated that
the achievement of the mill
rate decrease and budget

restraint objectives was
encouraging and reflects the
determination of the

government to limit property
tax increases in 1979.

Pel a i ee a a
- 4 . . " x
x a .
x
x
; x
x
x
: x
x
x
x
x
¥ ‘
, x
| es aa
| MAIR PARLOR |
{for women and men
K "126 Beat 16th Street 5
f North’ x

000-2685

elected'to‘déal with problems
that mostly require dollars-
and-cents solutions; that it
alone is in a position to
understand all the complexi-
ties of those problems; and,
therefore, that it alone. can
assess the cost of solving
each problem out of tax
revenue.

If taxpayers are so clever—

continues this line of thought _

~why don’t they solve the
problems themselves by
direct mob rule, without ever
bothering to elect a govern-
ment to do the job for them in
an orderly fashion? .

The persuasive argument
that .father government
knows best, however, often
begins to wear thin in the
light of facts and figures that
make no financial sense at all
to the taxpayer struggling to
foot the ever increasing bill.

Why, he asks, should the
federal civil service increase
by 323 per cent during a
35-year period when the
population of Canada _in-
creased by only 102 per cent?
How are the hundreds of
millions of tax dollars spent
on foreign aid justified in
relation to equally pressing
needs at home? Who author-
ized .the Canada Council

Search continues ;

by |
Noel Wright

(1978-79 budget © $52.5
million) to pay $170,000 for a
study of the air-breathing
fish of the Amazon River?

W.V. INITIATIVE

Closer to home similar
examples abound, in Victoria
and _at City Hall,always with
‘pious justification from the
government concerned but
often with precious little
satisfaction for those who are
paying the piper. Do gover-
ments really care a damn
what they do with our
money, once they get their
hands on it? ‘

This year, to its credit,
West Vancouver council is at
least going through the

motions of caring. For the’

first time it has produced a

for WV engineer

West Vancouver is back at
square one in its search for a
professional engineer to head
up the engineering and
public works department at
municipal hall.

Municipal manager Terry
Lester explains that one of 23
applicants pretty well’’ had
been selected as the prime
candidate but that he recent-

ly backed off for personal
reasons.

The resuh is that the
search is starting again and
may have to be turned over
to a firm of consultants to

find a successor to Jim
Hamilton, West Van's
operations manager who

resigned in January to take a
similar post in the municipal-
ity of Delta.

LARGE

VARIETY OF

FLOWERING
AND

FRUIT TREES

PLANT
NOW!

C2) —_

WEST VAN

2558 Haywood at
25th

922-2613

Maple Leaf

NORTH VAN

Corner
Lynn Valley Rd.

and Mountain
Hwy.

985-1784

Garden Spots

"draft “performance budget’’
for. the current 12 months, ...

describing: in detail . the
reasons for the allocation of
tax dollars to all the various
municipal needs, anc exactly
what services those tax
dollars will be buying.

ment a pee ae

The West Van ‘‘perform-

ance budget’’ also shows
which areas must suffer, and
Ye what extent, if cutbacks
‘are necessary. Best of all,
this detailed information has

been widely - distributed to

the citizenry via .ratepayer
groups, and their own input
has been invited.

’ That public. input .is now
being analyzed in council,
point by point. Then, and

only then, will the muni--

cipality’s 1979 budget be
finalized. oe

West Van’s_ refreshing
new approach is somewhat in
line with the thinking of an
American newspaper
columnist, James W. Phelps,
who has suggested an even

more direct method of citizen :

participation in the taxation
process. -

Phelps’s idea is that tax
forms should be re-drafted so
as to list a breakdown of how
the government in question
spent its income during the
previous year. In the case of

a municipality, for example,
the ‘breakdown would show
such major, categories. as
sewers, roads,  welfare,.
recreation, libraries, police

and fire protection,: debt.

servicing, administrative’
expenses, etc. ee
TAXPAYER APPROVAL -

_ Against each item the
percentage of expenditure
compared to the, total expen-
diture would be shown. The
taxpayer would
asked which expenditures he
approved and which he
disapproved. The extent of~
his approval or disapproval
would be shown by entering.
a percentage figure of his.
own. ,

For instance; if the form ©

. showed that the municipality

had spent 20 percent on
recreation, the taxpayer
might enter 10 per cent,
indicating that recreation”
costs should be cut in half..
He might enter 40 per cent to .
show that they should be a
predominant activity of
municipal government. Or,
he might enter zero, meaning
that the municipality’ should
get out of the recreation
business altogether.

With this information from
every single taxpayer duly
analyzed, the municipality
would have a firm basis on

,..approved—and ‘in ‘the per.
“centages” marked. In case:

then ‘ be--~

-which to shape its.
the. coming year. -'

~A-second step prop
Phelps © would ae
money from i 1
payers to be. allocated only
those. items they:speci

where taxpayers did n
indicate preferences, thei
‘dollars .could- go into -;
‘general fund. to be used ‘a
‘council’s discretion. :

. There may be still -beite
ways for governments*'t
handle the .money _ the}
extract—almost. literally: a
gunpoint—from those wh
-put them into office. If las
year’s California revolt -ha
any lasting, meaning, ther
have to be better ways. For
in the final resort,as long
our democrati¢ syste
continues to work, - -1
citizens always have a gun

their own to point. ~

The ballot box. o

Pitch-In |

Canada Trust is the place to go to apply for your free shares
(and additional shares if desired) in the future of British Columbia, When
making your application, you must present two of the following:
(a) driver's licence; (b) social insurance card; (¢) medical plan card.
if you're 65 or over, a Pharmacare card is sufficient proof of identity.
Mothers or guardians making application for children under 16 are

required to furnish only a

for such children.

medical plan number or a birth certificate

, Remember, every man, woman and child who has lived in B.C, for the
past year ~ and who holds or has qualified and applied for Canadian
citizenship ~ is eligible for five free shares, so don't miss out. Hurry into

your local Application Centre - Canada Trust - today.

Canada Trust |

Open 8 to 8 Monday thru Saturday
Park Royal Shopping Centre (north off Marine Dr.)