Ld | Living costs rise to record high after new increase Ii was reported from Ottawa this week that living costs in Canada had reached a record high in November. The Dominion Bureau of Statistics reported that the consumer price index rose by one-tenth of a point to 129.8 at December 1. At November 1 the index stood at 129.7. The Bureau attributed the rise to higher prices ox food, housing ang health costs. Cont'd from pg. graduated business tax and more money from_ senior governments to forestall a tax increase. The CRA also proposes that the present .machinery tax for school purposes be applied for general tax pur- poses. and the greatly in- creased grants be sought for education, roads and social welfare. CRA secretary Mona Mor- gan said ‘‘a home. exemption of some $2500 would make a big difference in our taxes and a graduated business tax would help transfer the load: to those able to pay.” She pointed out the provin- cial and federal governments do not pay taxes on their city properties but enjoy the same services that others pay for. The CRA is appealing to City Council to seek a char- ter amendment to allow for| a homeowner exemption. It/ has called on taxpayers to| write council and the Pe / | vincial government. i 1 2; FARMERS HIT | From farming areas in the! | Fraser Valley also came pro- | tests | high | Particularly hard hit are the| / small farmers who estimate) | that they may have to pay, | about $6 more per acre in) this week against the) assessments on land.) taxes this year on the basis | of higher assessments alone. Some farm land assessments | are expected to go up as | much as 110 percent under the new formulae. Deeply disturbed over the! situation, Surrey municipal} council, in which large ‘tracts, of Fraser Valley farm ‘land| are located, announced that a| Tax protest sweeps B.C. delegation will interview the government in Victoria on Wednesday. C.P. Convention meets in Toronto January 19-2] Delegates from all over Canada will gather in Toronto next weekend for the 17th National Convention of the Communist Party. Meeting for three days—{ January 19, 20 and 21,- the! delegates will. be engaged in intensive and earnest discus- sions of the great issues fac- ing our country — peace, in- dependence, democracy, .and the people’s vital needs. It will be a very special occasion in the history of the party because this convention will mark its 40th annivers- ary. This convention will be important not only for its tribute to the past but for its attention to the present and future. The Convention is expected to: give particularly close at- tention to the vital issue of peace. Tale of two a the PT received in its mail: 1955—$750; 1961—-$1700: jump this year over 1961. ° to have their land assessmen percent. What is happening to assessments on worker’s homes in Vancouver is seen by the following two examples which 1. A worker living in the thirty hundred block E, 45th, sent us these figures on the assessment on his land. One of the hardest hit areas in the city has been South Vancouver. The above example shows almost a 60 percent 2. Effie Jones, well-known civic figure, living at 5038 Sherbrooke St., which is also in South Vancouver, sends us the following figures on her land assessment: 1961—-$1740; 1962—$2600. Many homeowners in South Vancouver are reported ssessments \ 1962—$2500, t increased as much as 100 ¥ HOW YOUR MUNICIPAL TAX BILL IS DETERMINED. By BRUCE YORKE The calculation of your municipal tax bill is a com- plicated affair. Over the years the municipal authorities have deliberately made it as difficult as possible in order to discourage protests. How are your taxes actually set? | The first step is the setting of the assessed value of the _land and the improvements. This is ‘done each year by the _ Municipal assessor; who has _the authority to set the as- Sessment. He notifies each property owner, by mail ° Os their assessment. . If-you are in’ ‘disagreement on - With the assessment -you have hort period. of time “in Which - to: launch ‘an appeal... _. This year’ there has ‘been a vote 1g jump in’ the‘ assessments on ‘land ‘valués. “This is * be- ~. Cause the amendments to the . Equalization Assessment Act _Yequire the assessors to set the assessments at 50% of the current market value of ‘the land and also at 50% of the current market value of the improvements. Previously the assessments were made on the basis of _ 60% of the 1955 market value Of land and 60% of the 1953 market value of improve- ments. As market values of land have gone up consider- ably since 1955 .the result has been a big increase in the Jand assessment notices. - The average taxpayer is Guite confused at this stage because of the fact that his- torically assessments have rs been deliberately understat- ed. In most instances they have been in the neighbour- hood of one-third to one- quarter what. a taxpayer could realize if he sold his house and: lot on ‘the. > open market. ‘Consequently he feels’ he> is getting a good deal when vhe® Tooks sat” his assessment noti¢e. ee ‘The. “municipal ‘authorities have. deliberately. adopted ‘this. policy. with. regard. to ‘assessments. ‘Not knowing. the intricacies of the tax system most people believe that the assessed values and the mar- ket values ‘are supposed to be the same thing. In fact, they. have been deliberately made different. Contrary to what the oridinary taxpayer might’ think, he gets no bargain from this procedure, since the understatement is com- pensated for by a correspond- ing overstatement in ae mill rate. ° ~What is important in assess- ments. is comparison with other assessments, both with regard to other property for the same year and with re- gard to the same property from year to year. year to the next. Hence they. all. to determine if .their. as- sessed. value for tax purposes -are, just. Most people merely -compare their. assessed values -with what-they could get:-for| - ‘their . property. (the . market ‘the second for Clearly most people are in no position to carry out the necessary research to estab- lish comparisons with other properties. At best they could check with their neighbours. But the ordinary working man does not have the oppor- tunity to determine how the boss is getting treated. It is also true that most people do not keep their as- sessment notices. from = one}. are. really in. no. position .at value); and if.they are lower, which is always- the. case, they do not bother:.with ene matter any more. The assessments are the most important factor in de- termining taxes because the other steps are a matter of mathematical formula. The second step in deter- mining taxes is to find the taxable value of the property. Municipal taxes are two-fold, one for general purposes and Educational purposes. The taxable value for gen- eral purposes is the full as- sessed value of the land plus 50% of the assessed value of the improvements. That is| the formula for the City of} Vancouver. The percentage of! setting . of the. mill rate: A _mill is -1/10th of a- cent. A cipal councils. the assessed value of im- provements varies from municipality to municipality. The taxable value for edu- cational purposes. is the -full assessed value of the. land plus 75% of the assessed value. of the improvements. ! In this-case there is. no varia- tion from -municipality - to municipality. 3° The third step in determin- ing taxes: has. to-do. with the mill rate of say 20.. mills means that on taxable values of $100, the tax ‘would. he-$2. There are two mill» rates. One for general purposes’ ‘and one for educational purposes. These rates are set by: muni- The general purpose - “mill rate is roughly established by dividing the total municipal general purpose budget by the total taxable values for general purposes in-the mun- icipality. The educational mill rate is roughly established by div- iding the net educational budget by the total taxable values for education purposes in the municipality. The fact that it is the net figure that is used is very. important. The provincial government makes a part payment to. the municipal education budget. The larger this payment_ is, then the lower is the educa- actual fact, tional mill rate. The fourth step is the ap- plication of the two mill rates to the respective tax- able values for each’ indiv- idual property. The sum of” these two yields (as they are called) represents your taxes, - No wonder most people ‘don’t bother with it! Under the new assessment act amendments the base. “period has been brought up to current value. However. in, land » values on: the open ‘market have risen ~ more sharply. than the corres: ponding improvement values, -Hence, ‘with the new assess: ment formula, a greater pro- -portion of. the total taxable. value will be made up from- land values. But this in turn means that those properties which are heavily improved will bear relatively less . taxes. For all practical pur-- poses this means business properties and the stately mansions of the rich. Con- sequently, the amendments !to the Act will result in @ shifting of the tax burden to the small home owner and away from the big business ppopernien: SHIPPING FLEETS In 1961 the British Com- monwealth had. the largest shipping fleet in the world. Following were the United States, Norway, Liberia and Japan in that order. January 12, 1962—PACIFIC TRIBUNE—Page 3