British Columbia

Angry taxpayers are following closely
the legislative battle in Ottawa designed to
scuttle the hated Goods and Services Tax.

Meanwhile, at the municipal level, par-
ticularly in the Lower Mainland, another,
more complex, but really unfair tax grab is
in the offing.

New property assessement tax notices
are about to go into the mail, starting on
Oct. 2.

Assessment authority officials warn
that residences on the east side of Van-
couver, commercial properties and con-
dominiums could end up shouldering a
greater share of the tax burden — as much
as an additional 10 per cent over a base tax
increase in the five per cent range.

- Property taxes are based on the so-
called “market value” of properties — res-
idential, commercial, industrial. As a
result, these taxes have virtually nothing to
do with the democratic principle of ability
to pay.

Instead they are determined by the wild

_ Swings in the artificially-inflated real es-
tate market, which has been hot and cold,
hot and cold for some time.

Two years ago, the market was super-
hot in certain central and western parts of
the city of Vancouver, resulting in a 37 per
cent average rise in individual assessments
over the previous two years. But — and
this is the important factor — the variation
around that 37 per cent average increase

was itself very large, with many properties
going up 60, 70, and even 80 per cent in
so-called value.

Eventually, ten months later, despite
some small “reforms,” 25 per cent of Van-
couver citizens ended up with very sig-
nificant tax increases. The same fate could
be in store this year for residents on the east
side of the city.

Two years ago, citizens attempted to get
action at the assessment level. I led a num-
ber of delegations which attempted to get
the entire assessment roll declared invalid.
Out-and-out political interference from
Victoria resulted in the status quo being
maintained, although Vancouver city
council did subsequently provide some
modest relief through a “capping for-
mula,” which limited assessment increases
on some properties.

In 1989, the provincial government sent
around a commission headed by the Min-

Assessments threaten new tax hikes

Bruce

Yorke

ister of Finance to monitor the fallout from
the 1988 assessment fiasco.

But that commission failed to produce
any significant changes. They even ig-
nored the Mickey Mouse “reform” pro-
posed by the Union of B.C. Municipalities,
which was to average assessment increases
over a three year period.

That “reform” would leave the funda-
mental base of the system flawed — taxes
would continue to be dependent on the
speculative real estate market rather than
on a scientific measure of ability to pay.

This year, a citizens committee has
been formed in advance, called the Lower
Mainland Committee for Fair Taxes and
Assessments. I am acting as the secretary
and I can be reached at 2066 Parker Street,
Vancouver, V5L2L5, telephone 254-4180.

The committee has a three-pronged at-
tack in mind:

1) Todemand the Assessment Authority
release all pertinent information on a mass

basis, as well as on an individual basis. The
Freedom of Information Act will be used
if necessary to launch a court action to
secure the vital data to make a proper case.

2) Citizens will be urged to protest in-
dividually and en masse about unfair as-
sessments, and to flood the Assessment
Authority with appeals before its court of
revision. The committee will set up infor-
mation kiosks outside the Assessment
Authority’s Vancouver office, 1125 Howe
Street, to assist citizens.

3) The matter will figure prominently in
the civic election campaigns in the Lower
Mainland, since municipal councils, if
they have the will, can take significant
steps to force the provincial government to
clear up the mess. :

There is a taxpayer’s revolt brewing.
It’s time for concerted action on the
municipal scene, complicated as it is.
There’s the assessments in October, the
Court of Revisions on individual appeals
up until December, municipal budget time
in the following May, 1991, and finally the.
tax bill itsef in July — ten months later. It’s
all designed to frustrate protest and essen-
tially justice.

But fairness can be achieved if citizens
join together. A just municipal tax system
can be achieved through united action by
aroused citizens. Contact the committee
and offer your support.

Feds tell M-B to cut
discharge from Alpulp

Special to the Tribune

Environment Canada, spurred on by
growing public environmental concem, has
called on forest multinational MacMillan
Bloedel to take action to protect the fishery
in areas adjacent to its Alberni pulp mill.

The federal agency proposed at a public
meeting Sept. 11 that M-B’s Alberni pulp
and paper division (Alpulp) apply the best
available technology to reduce biochemical
oxygen demand (BOD) and total suspended
solids (TSS) in their effluent.

Bill Joyce, an activist
with the Alberni
Environmental Coalition
said he saw absolutely
no life for up toa
kilometre when viewing

_ an underwater video

documenting the extent
of the fibremat from the
pulp mill effluent -

discharge pipe.

Environment Canada scientists cited a
mountain of evidence that current Alpulp
discharges of eight BOD and nine TSS kilo-
grams per tonne of pulp threatens the $26
million fishery. Lack of oxygen in the water
is unduly stressing salmon stocks and creat-
ing a barrier to their return to spawning
grounds.

United Fishermen and Allied Workers
Union Vancouver Island organizer Bob
Grant, backed by many involved in sport
fishing, expressed alarm at the thousands of
sockeye which are rotting to death in the
Albemi Inlet apparently unable to move up
Tiver.

Nuu-chah-Nulth Tribal Council fisheries
officer Bill Green stated that the spawner
returns to the hatchery at Robertson Creek
were the lowest of any hatchery on Van-
couver Island and speculated that Alpulp
effluent could be a factor. Bill Joyce, an
activist with the Alberni Environmental
Coalition said he saw absolutely no life for
up to a kilometre when viewing an under-
water video documenting the extent of the
fibremat from the pulp mill effluent dis-
charge pipe.

Environment Canada is unable to deter-
mine the level of BOD and TSS which will
have no effect on marine life but is taking
the approach that the best available technol-
ogy and operating practices be applied. An
activated sludge, anaerobic fermentation
system has been used in other locations and
according to Environment Canada, will
meet the 1.3 kilogram per tonne of pulp
BOD and TSS regulations they propose.

MacMillan Bloedel had many of their
technical staff at the meeting who chal-

lenged Environmental Canada and pro-
posed an expansion of their current lagoon
system (which would destroy some unique
biota in the Somass River estuary) to reduce
BOD to 2.4 kilograms and TSS to 3.9 kilo-
grams per tonne of product. The company
offered no assurances that its proposal
would solve the oxygen level problem.

Overshadowing the whole situation is
M-B’s thinly-veiled threat to shut down its
kraft mill if environmental protection is too
expensive.

Dave Thien, President of the Canadian
Paperworkers Union local atthe Alpulp mill,
read a statement which called for the use of
the best available technology in a program
jointly funded by industry and government.

NDPMPBob Skelly proposed mediation
to settle the differences between Environ-
ment Canada and M-B. Others agreed but
also demanded that M-B’s financial situa-
tion be part of any mediation process.

é i ati fas ee Bet ‘ es mre =
M-B’s ALBERNI PULP MILL ... discharges threatening $26 million fishery.

Local environmentalist Gary Swann
challenged the CPU, IWA-Canada and
Share Our Resources to do their own inde-
pendent financial assessment of MacMillan
Bloedel. He claimed it would show that
wages constitute only 22 per cent (15 per
cent for unionized workers) of M-B’s cash
flow.

He added that the payment of interest on
M-B’s unpaid income taxes of $320 million
would cover the cost of the proposed treat-
ment system, estimated at between $30 and
$45 million.

Mark Ito, director of the pollution abate-
ment and compliance branch of Environ-
ment Canada said that auditors looked at
MacMillan Bloedel’s financial situation at
both the corporate and local level and deter-
mined that the company could afford to
make the changes proposed by Environment
Canada.

Pacific Tribune, October 1, 1990 «3

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