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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.

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NORTH VAN

Corner Lynn Valley Rd.

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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.)