Loading...
The Rural Voice, 1983-12, Page 23FARM NEWS Farm Tax Reduction Program: Reactions from the community Bessie Saunders, past president, Grey County Federation of Agricul- ture told The Rural Voice that Grey County farmers are quite pleased that the government has backed up on the taxation proposal. "While the gross production figure was not reduced as TARALAN CORPORATION Your #1 Crop Consultants PLANNING AND ADVISORY SERVICES: •More Profit Per Unit •Correct Fertilizer Re- commendations •Profitable and Achieve - able Yield Goals and Seeding Rates •Variety Evaluations and Selection •Tillage •Pesticide Programs •Regular Farm Visits •Crop Performance Ratings •Three PHD s on Staff •No Products Sold If your fall plowing was done too wet, will you manage your spring tillage any differently? DAVE DANN, P.AG. BOX 1059 MITCHELL, ONT. RESIDENCE 348.9929 LONDON REGIONAL OFFICE 439.3421 we had asked," she said, "neither was it raised to the $12,000. figure, so basically we are pleased. Also, the government did a survey of various municipalities around Ontario and discovered that a majority of farmers would pay increased property taxes if the 100 per cent rebate program went through. We, here in Grey County, would have been hit harder than most counties." George Underwood, who served on the property tax task force set up by the Huron County Federation of Agriculture, feels that Timbrell's an- nouncement is a credit to our political system. "There are many countries in the world where citizens cannot speak their minds," Underwood said. "We live in a country where we have a government who will listen to facts and figures and when given informa- tion, possibly with some pressure from people, are willing to re- consider thier policies and make changes. We should be proud to live in such a country." Ron Christie, Perth County Federation of Agriculture president, believes that the opposition which was raised in this area against the 100 per cent tax rebate proposal had a lot to do with the government abandon- ing the program. "But when our regional directors were called to Toronto on November 10 to a special OFA board meeting, none of them knew what was coming," Christie said. "Timbrell's announcement of the new 60 per cent rebate came as a surprise to many people." John MacAuley, Regional Direc- tor, Bruce West, said that Timbrell's announcement certainly came as a surprise. "It is an improvement over what we've had," MacAuley says, "but it doesn't deal with the question of people paying for people services and land paying for service to land. It's really a patch -up one the old system." Tony McQuail, Huron County Federation of Agriculture president: "The government has backed away from the 100 per cent rebate. This is in line with one of the recommenda- tions passed by HCFA directors. We also suggested several alternatives which would help reform farm pro- perty tax, but unfortunately, the pro- vincial government appears to have abandoned tax reform. They will be maintaining, through legislation, the farm tax rebate at a level of 60 per cent. "Fortunately OFA and the County Federations have been successful in getting the government to lower their qualifying gross sales so that more moderate size farms will be eligible. The new level is annual sales of $8,000 in southwestern Ontario and $5,000 in eastern and northern On- tario."El HOMELITE Specials -just in time for Christmas Giving Model XL -76 (16" bar) Reg. $434.95 NOW $384.95 Model SXL922 (19" bar) Reg. $634.95 NOW $559.95 Model V1-130 (16" bar) Reg. $479.95 NOW $424.95 OTHER MODELS AVAILABLE AT SIMILAR SAVINGS Merry Christmas from DOHERTY'S Small Engine Centre Durham 519-369-2813 *Guaranteed Service After Sale THE RURAL VOICE, DECEMBER 1983 PG. 21