HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Goderich Signal-Star, 1969-09-11, Page 142A "GODERICH SIONALeSTAAR, THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 11, 1909
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BY G. MacLEOD ROSS
While there is some good
holiday .reading in a publication
entitled "1969 Budget Ontario,"
put out by the treasurer and
minister of economics, it is
geared tat it will be found
unconvincing; . because . the
statements of intention, which
do battle with the opiiiions
justifying this "Thrust," are
nowhere supported by argument
or reason. In fact the key words
"Thrust" and "Equity" leave a
sneaking suspicion that they are
mere camouflage for a "broader
tax base." How this 15 million
dollar reassessment programme
will reduce the reputed
inequities, save for a -"few
private " properties "currently
under review," is not explained.
The longer you spend knee-deep
in the document, the more the
impression is gained that our
provincial jokers suffer from an
acute attack of "Urbanitis"; that
they have forgotten the
disparities between the vast
number of small villages .and
towns which make up the
Province; that the
uncompromising, law of supply
and demand is a stranger to
them:
as
iF
The great thrust forequi
to the normal working of supply _Of real property and an
and demand. But then, assessment of $5,000, let us
conditions change; the isolated suppose the' tax rate is 100 mils.
house is reinstated with Then the taxpayer has to find
amenities similar to the other $500 per annum. But when the
house. Is it then reassessed? same property is reassessed at
Your house backs. on to a $25,000, the mil rate would
trailer camp and you enjoy the have to. be reduced to 20 nails
added hazard of bottle -dodging for the taxpayer still to pay
from adjoining tents; your $500 Where is the guarantee
children are subjected to the that councils will reduce the irate
intimate .conversations from the by this amount? Further, does it
adjoining trailer; you are not become clear that Mr.
observed in the privacy of your McKeough is merely playing the
garden by peeping toms who numbers game • at a cost to the
scale your fence. Your house is taxpayer of $15 millions?
deprived of the�an en ties' it There was a good example of
enjoyed before council th'futility of real property as a
prostituted what was intended as tax base in the minute village of
a park for ALL citizens, to make- Wensleydale in Yorkshire. The
some paltry sum per annum 'as a Rectory, was three centuries old;
summer trailer camp and a built at a time when Wensleydale
winter parking lot. Will the was, a thriving farming „centre.
assessors recognise this sort of . There was stabling for some 15
thing? Or does the owner have horses as well as barracks for the
to spend long hours arguing a ostlers, all part of the .Rectory.
When the Black Death came to
Wensleydale in the 17th,century,
the village population was wiped,
out and it has never recovered.
Yet the Church is still assessed
for this stabling and is thus
crippled financially by having'to
maintain it. An incubus foist
upon it, which was none of is
making.
In the days to come, who is
going to dispense the essential
brand of percipient equity, when
the originators have retired, or
forgotten or lost their
enthusiasm forreform, or have
lost their seats, in parliament?
But we are left in the dark as
usual as to whether equity or
higher taxation is the goal. We
do not know, we cannot guess
and we are not told, how this
arithmetical exercise will turn '
out. Nobody cares what his
property is assessed at, so long as
the tax rate is . low. In other
words, if he does not wake up in
1970 to- find he has been
assessed out of house and home;
that after all, it was a ruse to
"broaden theatax base," suitably
case before some assessment
board,• in order to .obtain some
rebate for his loss of normal
amenities? In short how can you
stabilise the assessment -of real
property under the ever
changing circumstances?
What modicum of equity will
be assessed to those who, in
THE "THRUST" their naivete, built expensive
The treasurer mentions four modern homes on sites within
"thrusts" in all, two of which the resonant sound of twanging
are: `Reassessment of all real
property at current values" and
second, the "determining of an
appropriate distribution of tax
burden among classes of real
property."
Did you realise that Ontario
could assemble, at the drop of a'
hat, so many omniscient
assessors to satisfy these two
thrusts? Are these hastily
recruited assessors endowed with
all' the virtues of the Angel
Gabriel?.. They need to be. How
do you ensure uniformity of
judgement from, shall we say,
200 . assessors? How do you
ensure that their assessments
conform to local supply ' and
demand? Is it notrealised that
values vary all over the province;
that it is cheaper to buy a house
in the styx, than in a city like
Toronto where demand is great?,
Consider some of the factors'
which determine the value of a
house. s
Take a house situated in a
electric • guitars on Sunday
nights? Is an, out-of-town
assessor competent to reassess
that sort of thing? Assessors
work, but never on Sundays!
The deeper you delve, the
more obvious it becomes that
real property is too susceptible
to change to be a criterion of a
tax base. You may be as poor as
a church mouse, yet live hi a huge
mansion, simply because nobody
else wants it.
Today there is yet another
built-in variable. The ,treasurer,
in his document, acknowledges
that inflation is rising at a rate of
four per cent, per annum and
t' at it will take a year to reassess
the whole province. The north camouflaged by a lot of rnumbo
will have been done by ufnbo. But, where is the
December 31, 1969, whilethe
south will be donee from this guarantee that this 'will mit
date until June 30, 1970: "Here occur.
Thus we conclude first: that
then is yet another variable no reassessment will provide any
which no assessment can
greater degree of equity than is
stabilise. Will the south be enjoyed at present assessments;
reassessed at ttoalr cent more
_< z and second, thatreal propertj
.
Totality .in which no one can than the nortl�y� _ -
afford' to buy it during the year does not represent in perpetuity
1969. In 1970 it is snapped upan equitable taxation base.
,by: the manager-_ of a_ newly EQUITY ORTAXATIONN?
arrived industry, which "has. Thus we- are` thrown back on THE ONLY EQUITAtLE
ddenly decided to locate in the question: What is it the TAX BASE
the village or town Or consider treasurer and his side -kick the The Ontario Municipal
two identical: houses; the one minister of municipal affairs are.._Association, .. which includes all
isolated, the other close to the after? Is it honestly equity, or is the mayors in the province, and
town's amenities. The former it higher taxation? Taxation everyone else, except the
naturally commands :a lesser involves a tax base, a tax rate.. provincial government, would
value than the latter, according and a taxpayer. With a tax base appear to have realised for some
years that 'real property could
never. survive as a municipal tax
D. L. Fietcher a p p oi n ed base, if only for the reason that
•
nt
"free. education" was , to be
neglected municipal amenities.
Once the boards° , were given,
what became virtually a blank
cheque, which a municipality
could not question, real
property was dead as•a taxation'
base.:•
The irresponsibility of boards
,of trustees is too recently in
mind with the example of what
North York could do, and who
shall say that, but for the grace
of God, it could not happen
.here?
Of course the taxpayer has to
find the money for education,
but there is no reason why it
should continue to be a burden
of indefinite amount of the
municipal budget. It should be,
as at present, a separate
proportion of the tax rate, but
one which would be examined
and regulated annually by
councils. -
Surely the only logical and
businesslike way to approach
this problem is first, to decide
for what items a municipality is
to be financially responsible.
Next decide what that will
amount to. Finally to tailor the
tax to the financial ability of the
,taxpayers.
If equity is honestly the
talisman sought by the treasurer,
then the simplest and most
equitable tax base is individual
income. This is a base which has
�� placed in the hands of boards of
C N superintendent
The appointment of Douglas
L.,.. Fletcher as superintendent
transportation Southwestern
Ontario Area, is announced by
Richard M. Veenis,'area manager
for Canadian National.
Mr. Fletcher, 41, was born -at
Exeter and 'educated there. Ile.
joined CN at London in 1947',
also served at other points •
through Southwestern Ontario,,
the Bruce Peninsula and at
Hamilton. In 1963 he became
chief dispatcher of the railway's
Northern Ontario Area, with
headquarters at Capreol, and
later was named transportation
officer there., He was appointed
' assistant superintendent at
Hornepayne in 1965; assistant
superintendent terminals
-Sarnia-Port Huron in 1967 and
superintendent transportation,
Grand Trunk Western, Detroit in
May of the same year.
He is married to the former
Betty, Green of Grand -'Bend.
They have two children, Mark.
Experienced
Decorators
•
INTERIOR AND
E*TERIOR2
PAINTING
AND
f,l;'VALLPAPERI'NG
• Reasgnable Prices
Free Estimates
Radius of 16 Miles of
Goderich
W. Pedersen
TB7 Broc.T, Street
Phone 524-6667
After Six
,
Jrlrees McCreight
86 Cast Street
Phone 524.9287
2Stf
trustees, many of whom seem
12, and Sandra, 7... to have lost any sense of
Mr. Fletcher succeeds Harold proportion or "propriety, and
B. Giles, who is retiring from have turned schools into
Canadian National after 40 yearselaborate temples which parade
service. , . their,.. affluence in the face of
been recognised by thousands of
federal governments as the most
satisfactory base, even if many
of them have done their best to
complicate the issue by such a
complex format that practically
everyone has to seek the services
of the accountancy profession to
fill ill his form.
Why, go through - all this
expensive ($15 millions) exercise
in reassessment, which will do
no more than demonstrate the
inequality of judgement • of
umpteen assessors, ° honourable
men all of them, but not
endowed with second' sight. The
treasurer admits a few properties
are "out of line." Then why not
deal with these, rather than
wasting' our money on, an
operation which will leave us
just where we were before it was
...undertaken. .
Lpt us pray the provincial
government immerses itself in its
think-tnk andcomes out
dripping with another "think"; a
saner one, rather than this
useless tinkering; 'this numbers
game; this costly,. exercise in
rudimentary arithmetic.
SEE US FOR
ALL MAYTAG
PRODUCTS
"THE DEPENDABLE LINE '
Including The New
MAYTAG UNDERCOUNTER
DISHWASHER
HUTCHINSON TV
& APPLIANCES
308 HURON RD.
dyt
PHONE 524-7831
Business Directory
Ronald L.
McDonald
CHARTERED ACCOUNTANT
/39, St. David St., 524-6253
Goderich, Ontario
145 ESSEX ST.. GODERICH. grI ARIO •
Available For
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PHONE 524-9371 or 524-9264
Alexander and
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GENERAL INSURANCE
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Canadian Imperial Bank of
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Goderich
Dial 524-9662
rFTHIS SPACE
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R.- W. BELL
OPTONTETR IST
524-7661
The Square
A. M. HARPER
CHARTERED ACCOUNTANT
40 THE SQUARE TELEPHONE
GODERICH, ONTARIO 524-7562
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Saturday,' September 13th, 1969