WAT fen ' ae earn Sl fi fet ts PT roe Fe ital vemt ect ald ie PP sales tax peti p ama tion goes to gov’ —_ —_- = ’ uf EE LACM ALTE GLO Vancouver, British Columbia, Friday, March 4, 1949 NA Dern d LY Gos, Mey bn APL? deen be ee Ee Price Five Cents RAISE TAX EXEMPTIONS ee Morganhits Anscomb, Winch for tax stand Nigel Morgan, provincial leader of the Labor-Progressive party, left Vancouver on Wednesday this week to arrange for presentation | to the government of the petition urging repeal of the sales ‘tax for which LPP members and supporters have gathered some 15,000 signatures in. the past few weeks. Earlier, on Monday, Morgan made a broadcast over the CBC’s Provincial network condemning Finance Minister Anscomb’s “‘Rob the ‘poor to save the rich’? budget and calling attention to the prob- lems of municipalities and school boards which, he said, remained un- solved by the budget. “The Coalition’s proposal to extend the life of the sales tax for another year represents a shameful flaunting of the will of the electorate,” he declared. ‘‘Continuation of the policy of Robbing the poor to save the rich’ is, indicative of the stranglehold big business interests have on the people of the province through this Tory-Liberal Oalition, most of whose members are directors, shareholders or faithful servants of the big corporations.” Recalling Premier ‘‘Boss’ Johnson’s defense of H. R. Mac- Millan’s fabulous profits and his statement that what his government wanted to do was to create more H. R. MacMillans, Morgan said: ‘That is just what the Coalition is doing by placing the tax load On the small income group. Every dollar that can be picked from the pockets of the poor, whether it be by a sales tax, poll or road ‘ax, means a dollar less on the big corporations. “That’s why Harold Winch should come clean and demand that _ the tax be repealed,” he continued. “It’s a reactionary, regressive and unfair burden on the low income group and it must go: “Wh i ‘ls to demand its repeal he’s talking with his tongue in his ee ae did a couple of years ago when he voted Continued on back page — See SALES TAX Adding a fifth kind of goof In last year’s Saanich by- election Tory Finance Minis- ter Anscomb told a listener he wished they could gather “down the street at my wine factory.” Maybe he thought if he got the voters soaked in enough of the four brands of goof advertised above on the side of that estab- lishment he might be able to get them to like the sales tax. Anscomb’s budget last week shows he has preferred a fifth brand of goof—sales tax elixir for business men (3 percent), which is driving. everybody al- most goofy. Anyway the goof factory grossed a tidy $117,305 ($45,726 net) in 1947. —TORONTO. “Ninety-one Canadians received an average income of $162,000 each in 1946. Another 449 rich Canadians received $64,300 apiece—while the majority of families are struggling along on inad- equate pay envelopes.” This ‘‘outrageous injustice’’ was revealed last week by Tim Buck, LPP federal candidate in Toronto-Trinity, as he sparked a nation- wide campaign to compel the federal government to increase exemptions for tax purposes from $750 to $1500 for single persons and from $1500 to $2500 for married—plus $300 exemption for each child. (Government income tax forms are now being distributed. Taxes must be paid by April 30.) “Tax the greedy, not the needy,” Buck demands, outlining fur- ther facts to prove the inequality of taxation in Canada: A married man with no children, earning $35 a week pays $38 a year income tax- Tim Buck’s proposal would save him that $38. A married man with no children, earning $40 a week pays $87 a year, or $1.55 a week. He would pay no income tax under Buck’s plan. A married man with no children, earning $50 a week pays $191 a year, of $3.35 a week. Buck’s plan would mean he’d pay $11 a year. A married man with two children, earning $40 a week, now pays $53 a year income tax. Buck’s plan would relieve him of income tax. A married man with two children, earning $50 a week, now pays $151 or $2.75 a week. He would pay no income tax under ‘Buck’s plan. A married man with two children, earning $60 a week, now pays $255 a year, or $4.65 a week. Under Buck’s plan he would save $199, and pay $56. A single person, earning $25 a week, now pays $91 a year, or $1.45 a week. Buck’s plan would relieve this person of income tax. A single person, earning $35 a week now pays $203 a year, or $3.35 a week. Tim Buck’s plan would cut this to $38 a year, a saving of $165. The LPP national leader adds: “Bring back the excess’ profits tax! This tax, abolished by the King-St. Laurent government in 1947, with the support of the Tories (including L- Skey, the Tory MP from Trinity) used to bring in $450 million. It should be restored! Taxes on your pay envelopes must be reduced! “$600,000,000 is the 1948-49 federal government surplus. It can, and must be used to reduce your income tax!” Tim Buck will head a delegation to Ottawa in April to press for these demands. Meanwhile, thousands of postcards, addressed to the government, are being distributed by the Trinity candidate as part of his campaign. In his own riding, canvassers are visting every home in 134 subdivisions. SHOWLER REPORT CHEERED TLC spurns AFL union-splitters A packed meeting of Vancou- ver’s Trades and Labor Council this week greeted with thunder- ous applause a declaration by Trades and Labor Congress vice- president Birt Showler that, “the majority of our members are loy- al Canadian citizens, irrespective of political ideas, and will never agree to Yankee domination.” He was referring to decision of last week’s Congress. executive meeting in Ottawa, which he at- tended, to spurn demands served on the Congress by the AFL ex- ecutive at its Miami meeting four weeks ago. ot the wrecking crew in the Con- gress (a brief to which Congress president Percy Bengough got 15 minutes for an unprepared re- ply), the AFL demanded: AHA As! | (i a | Delegates realized, as Showler bared the demands, that they faced deepening of one of the most far-reaching struggles in the history of Canadian labor. After by-passing the AFL-TLC co - ordinating committee, and hearing a 29-page brief from Frank Hall, boss-approved leader —that all federal unions (such as the 40-year-old civic workers’ unions) be turned over to AFL internations. —that (in effect) international representatives command voting power of all Canadian locals. (Continued on back page) See SHOWLER MANA 0 ad HY as nea Wa) a CUE MA cat aA LY WM ya ul