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Port Perry Star, 31 Jan 1984, p. 4

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editorial comments a [arget JE - Good oh - po ~~ . W . Y : Eo Sa nl Who ever heard of a tax increase of three per cent SE or less? Just about all tax hikes in the last few years have been like the inflation rate, in double digits. However, the Durham Region council's manage- ment and finance committee is recommending that for 1984, the Regional share of property taxes not be more than three per cent. If that target can be met, it will mean a Regional tax hike of something under $10 for the average homeowner in the Region. Let us hope that the target can indeed be met as it is about time that homeowners got out from underneath the ever-increasing spiral of higher proper- ty taxes. However, if the Region is able to bring down a tax increase of just three per cent (or less), it may not mean just that much of an increase in total 1984 taxes. The School Boards will take slightly more than 50 per cent of property taxes this year, the Region about 25 per cent, and the rest goes to the local municipalities. Thus, in order for property owners to really get out from under the tax spiral, both the School Boards and § local municipalities will have to strike budgets where the _impact on taxes is five per cent or under. But wouldn't it really be nice if the School Boards, the Region and the local municipalities could all meet budget targets ; which impacted just three per cent on property taxes? a Property owners have had to shoulder more than : their fair share of total tax increases in the last decade "ean where you get tirat of sab story, or so. With inflation under control (or at least manageable MSE rerrind therm _ .. YOU HAVE MOUTHS TO FEED 700." these days) and with provincial guidelines calling for five per cent salary and wage hikes, there is no reason why property taxes should go up by much more than three or four per cent in 1984. chatterbox | nose by John B. McClelland | of Snowmobiles The letter which appears opposite this page in this -------- VICES REMEDIES or another to the point where there is not a single aspect week's edition of the Port Perry Star from snowmobiler We reached those last days when we could endure ©f Our public and private lives that remains un-touched. Gwen Luke is a good one, and shoild be read carefully neither our own vices nor their remedies. Titus Levy, There are a multitude of examples. Anybody who by all those people who do NOT own snowmobiles. writing on the decline of Rome. has an even casual interest in national affairs has come Hopefully, the letter will also be read by that very, I happened to run across that memorable quote last on ene in the last few Y gars. akon ASshgleen very small minority of snowmobile owners who continue week reading the introduction to a marvellous a regul ' to act irresponsibly on their machines with little regard historical narrative which chronicals the decay and 900 ultimate collapse in 1940 of the Third blic of thousand statutes and laws, by-laws, codes, guidelines for their own safety, or the safety and property of others. France. and edicts leave us with precious little to call freedom The sport of snowmobiling has come a long way in That book, written by historian William L. Shirer, of choice. the past few years to improving the image and public : gives a devastating account of how the seeds of the col- . I'note with interest that our provincial government perception, thanks in no small way to the dedicated and : pse of France in the face of the Nazi onslaught in 1940 18 "ow thinking seriously of requiring driver's licences hard work of people like Mrs. Luke and others, who are were really sown during the previous seven decades of © bear the holder 3 Photograph. surface, probably extremely conscious of how others may view this winter Third : Sounds innocent enough ' activity. would even help the police keep better track of the | Bho he quote om we j Toally stuck rind mayhem on the ways. But it's an imposition, an in. he Sadly, it seems like with so many other things, it is Oar ro the pse of the Third Roma ' trusion into my life; just one more way the government attention and te magors OU ora thousand that gous the has of keeping track of me; who I am, what I do, when publicity, while all the positive things And as I watch events un-fold in Canada these days, eeping which happen go un-noticed. indeed in all of the so-called "'western democracies," I do it, where I go, who I'm with. I can't help but wonder if we too have reached the point [don't want my photograph on my driver's licence. There will always be those whose foolish actions where we can endure no longer our vices nor their MY name is there, s0 is my a . There's a big long cast a negative light on those who work hard to improve number, too, which I'm sure is stored in a hundred dif- the situation. We have learned that recently, on two dif- Of the vices, western society has many. We all know ferent computer banks. ferent occasions, a snowmobile operator passed a them, they don't need to be listed here. Some are It's my licence. I don't plan to give it away, or trade school bus in Scugog Township which was stopped with relatively new, a phenomena of the frantic last half of it, or sell it, or anything else. If I lose that licence for lights flashing to let students off. | the 20th century, a function of our life-style which no ~~ 30me driving offense, so be it. I walk. Why does it need Of course, this is a very serious offense in a car more resembles that of our fathers and grandfathers MY photo? and equall as seri s and da f il than it does that of the ancient Greeks or Roman. As I said before, this point is a minor one, 'when equally ou a ngerous for a snowmobile are time-worn, as old and as durable as ma taken by itself. But when lumped together with Operator. It is these kinds of incidents which the respon- Stirs nkind everything else that government tells me to do, the sible snowmobilers are constantly having to deal with There are some who say our vices are taking usall Significance takes on more important proportions. and answer for. down a merry road to decay and destruction, the moral Do you remember when the social insurance We suppose it is not much different from a lot of fabric of society is being ri and torn to shreds. The Numbers came into being? Everyone would have one other things. One stupid hunter with a rifle in his hands danger is not the 'big 8 ripped the nuclear holocaust, for income tax purposes, to help the federal revenue can quickly un-do all the good work responsible hunters but slow strangulation from within. I'm not sure about department keep track of us. I note that on my private have accomplished in regulating their sport. this. When I read the love letters between Yuri and ewance card for such things as dental, drugs, disabili- The same might be said of minor hockey. One '"'ug- Ronald, I'm tempted not to down-play the chance of the tY and 30 on, there's my SIN. What has insurance got ly" incident that grabs public attention and critics say " " to do with Revenue Canada? It seems ev time I fill big boeins, issue. We're ta about vices Out a form for this or that, I'm writi in my SIN. the whole sytem is rotten. It would help if all of us try and Pothier i sendin lking about opr And speaking of Revenue Canada, how do you like to remember that one rotten apple does not spoil the vices, to be sure. But surely there is just as much if not those quota systems for tax collectors, or the forcing whole barrel. more, cause for concern over the remedies of businesses into bankruptcy to collect taxes owing"? Snowmobiling is not for everyone, of course. But it For some reason as we slip into 1984, the govern- The recent revelations are frightening. can be and is a fine form of recreation which can be en- ments at all levels seem to be taking it on themselves Or how about the Censor Board. Not content just joyed by the entire family. more and more to protect us from our vices. to chop away at movies, the Board will now peruse all The vast majority of snowmobilers are law-abiding Granted, it doesn't always look that way on thesur- rock videos in an attempt to sniff out and stamp out, and conscientious people who continue to work to face, but slowly, by chip, we are losing our freedom $€X and violence. enhance the sport. For this, they de f as individuals : our freedom of choice, expression, even ie if there isn't enough government interference in tion, at the very least, oo 0 speech; our freedom to fail at some venture; our MY life, there are any number of self-appointed groups recognition, at the very least. freedom to even start some venture. running around measuring this and that for content: And lot us remember, too, the positive contributions We are ch Lota taxed, warning people of evi things on the tube, in the movies snowmobilers make. It is a sport which helps the | being lled, go prec} ed Amped pled and ON » in magazines, on bill-boards, in what | eat economy of this province during the winter months. And ¥ or > computer cards by I hioted, government (Turn to page 8) last Sunday, the Port Perry Snowarama raised some Y $24,000 for the Easter Seal Society and Crippled Children, a respectable figure.

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