MORGAN AT VICTORIA HEARING

a for a new, more equitable
Wiced of property taxation was
iP iy this week by Communist
| ee oary Nigel Morgan, in
a as for hearings on
oi ai and taxation of real
ting.) eld by the select stan-
Pe umittee on municipal
Delta encer the chairmanship of
The LA Carl Liden.
sted Committee has been in-
Makin With the responsibility of
a recommendations aimed
bixatio Mping the whole property
x n system and the hearings
tering Major importance con-
bie the 20-year legacy of
taxa ot under which property
Weight N became increasingly
€d in favor of big business.
brie oe the Communist Party’s
iyi a gan emphasized the need
Cond; € the book on the chaotic
Previog created by the
itiate S government and to
ton} hew policies which would
Would pee fair.and equitable but
Sem, SO be understandable to
~ the Ost affected by the policies
eoxbayers.
bxatio. agreeing with the basis for
Ment N which the NDP govern-
tay: ppbears to have adopted —
+ on Value which is arrived at
the min Iplying the assessment by
ee — Morgan pointed out
have ee complicating factors
Nngje» fated an ‘‘assessment
iMleme nich has been difficult to
Wnderstane and more: difficult to
tain ‘i Special regulations on
itso Ypes of land, legislative
Var — assessment increases and
Inequit €xemptions coupled with
haya ale government grants
Moblems aggravated assessment

tions”

=r

ih re ental principle advanced
Called oOmmunist Party’s brief
{uy vale appraisal of property at
The cae as a “going concern.”
Deeg oun is designed to end
the Sn sualities and establish
essment a fair system of

event.
that 2 System rests on the principle
all ce the land it sits on and
“Onstitut Services it requires to

€ a living unit capable of

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Communists call for

being transferred from one owner
to another. Its assessed value, in
turn, can readily be determined
when the house is sold — the
amount the buyer is willing to pay
and the seller is willing to accept
becomes the value.

The system would end the
present complex system of
determining land values separate
from building values and services
provided.

The brief stated that the same
principle could be applied to in-
dustrial or farm land. In each case,
the property would be assessed as
a “going concern,” taking into
account the land, buildings,
machinery used in the productive
process and the services required.
While there is a difference, in that
the value cannot readily be
determined by a constant market
exchange as in the case of homes,
nevertheless appraisal experts can
still determine the value, the brief
said. :

For vacant homes or abandoned
or disused property, the brief noted
that a similar principle could
apply. Experts could again
determine the value which,
although it would be less than a
“going concern’, would still
provide a valid basis for purposes
of assessment.

The Communist Party em-
phasized that “there should be no
tampering with the value as
determined; no separating the
various components with different
formulae for each.”

The brief also noted that, subject
to normal appeal procedures, the
assessor’s responsibility should
end with assessment and political
policies should take over in
establishing the rate of taxation
based on full value assessment.

On the decisive question of
taxation, the brief emphasized
particularly ‘taxation in
municipalities should be related to
municipal services provided ...
education, welfare, health and
other services to the population
should not be property related
taxes at all, but rather should be
related only to income with those

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most able to pay assuming the
greatest share.”’

The brief called for the removal
of education tax from any form of
property with the cost of education
to be met by the income tax; the
removal of social welfare costs
from property; the removal of

health and physical fitness service
costs from property, to be borne
instead by an income related tax.

“Tf we adopt this principle,”’
Morgan stated in outlining the
Communist Party position, ‘‘then
the taxation of real property for the

new tax system

financing of the services related to
that property becomes a simple
matter.”’

The brief pointed out that dif-
ferent types of property obviously
require different levels of service
and various rates of taxation would
have to be established, based on
services required. Industry, which
requires “back-up fire protection,”
high volume water service and
round-the-clock snow removal
would have to pay a higher rate of

_ tax than a home, for example.

Of central importance in the
Communist Party’s  recom-
mendations on taxation was the
principle that all added values on
property created by rezoning

accrue to society as a whole. The

submission cited the example of
the CPR property. on the north
shore of False Creek which, as a
result of rezoning, jumped in value
from some $5 million to over $100
million. ‘‘The CPR did nothing to
create these added values,’’ the
brief declared. ‘‘They became
possible only because of the
development of the surrounding
area (an act of society) and

» rezoning (an act by city council).

“These values should come back
to the community by the imposition
of city or municipal councils of a
100% added-value tax.”

In urging government adoption
of the principles embodied in the
brief, Morgan emphasized that it
would provide a “‘fair, equitable
and easily understood method of
assessment for all property” as

well as ‘‘a rational and equitable

method of taxation, considerably
more related to the services
required and the ability to pay.”

NDP gov't may take action
against optical monopoly

The NDP government in B.C. is
looking into the possibility of going
into the optical business because of
monopoly practices which are
hurting the public. This was in-

- dicated last’ week when health

minister Dennis Cocke spoke to a
meeting of the B.C. Optometrists
Association.

He said prices for eyeglasses are
high because ‘‘one or two’’ com-
panies control the optical industry
and that everyone should have
access to glasses at reasonable
prices. “This monopoly cartel, this
big combine — whatever I call
them — gets away with these high
prices.”

Brandishing his own glasses,
Cocke said they cost him $65 and
that after looking into what the real
cost should be he said they should
be about $30. The figure used by the
health minister is borne out by a
survey of the optical industry
recently made by the Saskat-
chewan government, and a series
of articles published a few months
ago in the Toronto Globe and Mail,
They concluded that most
Canadians are being ripped off by
as much as two to three times more
than they need pay for eyeglasses.

The giant monopoly which
dominates the optical industry in
Canada was identified as Imperial
Optical Co. Ltd. by the Globe and
Mail which said that most eyeglass
buyers are not aware they are in

-the grip of Imperial Optical

because the firm operates under
300 different corporate names.
The Saskatchewan government
study showed that about 90 per cent
of optical firms across Canada are
Imperial-owned and that Imperial

insists that its outlets buy 85 per
cent of their goods from the firm —
or else.

With factories and retail stores
in Canada and the West Indies, and
marketing and patent-licensing
arrangements around the world,
Imperial is one of the world’s half-
dozen biggest optical firms. The
company was founded in 1900 in
Canada by Percy Hermant and has
a monopoly stranglehold on the

Tee

“WHAT A SWEET RACKET! WE DON'T 0 NOTHIN? AND WE GET PAID PLENTY FoR DoIN? rr I>

industry with retail outlets owned
by the firm operating disguised as
independents under a variety of
names.

Action at the provincial

government level to break the grip
of this optical octopus is long
overdue. The public will welcome
the statement of health minister
Cocke and should press the NDP
government to take early action.

PACIFIC TRIBUNE—FRIDAY, OCTOBER 11, 1974—Page 3

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