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GeorgetownActon Wednesday Mar 21 1964 Founded In 1875 by Mtfrotand Pnmmo Publishing at Willow Slraat Ontario 2M2 Tatophona Sutocnpuon Smcta 30 Mch IT in than Second daw Number Ken Bellamy Don Ryder Director of Advertising Hartley Coles Managing Editor Tha Acton Pro of It group of suburban newspapers which Aurora Banner Haw Advertaar Tha The Guardian Burlington Poat Tha Weekend The Etobicoka Guardian Tha Georgetown Independent Marfchsm Sun The Champion Tha Msatasauga The Era Tha North York Minor OakviDe Ottawa Th Week Oahewa Thie Weekend Richmond HI Liberal Tha Scarborough Mirror Tnbuna and Wood bridge Liberal Printing a a of Entrwpriao Limited EDITORIAL DEPARTMENT Gord Murray Editor Murray Sports Mark Darkroom Nancy ADVERTISING DEPARTMENT RataH Manager Cook Kirk Davy Susan MdOnnon Sandra Ctaasrltad Carolyn Anem BUSINESS ACCOUNTING OFFICE Of flea Jean Underground money Did you know that Cana dians now pay a whopping per cent of the money they earn in taxes either upfront of hidden That figure includes income tax customs duties federal sales tax property tax and capital gains tax as well as a lot of the money spent on lottery tickets bingo and even speeding and parking tickets a few of the govern ment fund raisers According to the Cana dian Federation of Independent Business the high tax rate has pre cipitated a method of tax cheating which could amount to about in untaxed income How is it done By paying for services in cold hard cash There are no records for the collector to trace and the result is those who use that method of beating the leave it up to their fellow Canadians to make up the shortfall Why do normally upstanding waitresses and waiters accept the risk of heavy penalties when they dont report all their tips Why do plumbers carpen ters mechanics and other tradespeople who moon light at afterhour jobs not report their additional cash Is it greed or do they re sent the free giveaways and waste all levels of government seem to spawn and use it as a means of pro test They are wrong of course because the burden of extra taxes falls on those already heavily burdened However the more we pay in taxes the more cheaters we likely will get Growth in the underground economy will continue to escalate the Federation of Indepen dent Business maintains And well payfor it Dreams of power Back when Ontario Hydro was paving the way for its 500 corridor through Halton Hills it was loudly trumpeted that we were on the threshold of bold new initiatives The result would be great benefits for power consumers in Ontario It was suggested costs for power would stay well with in the purchasing power of even the hard pressed con sumer But the forecasts of golden days ahead proved to be dreams A nightmare might be a better descrip tion Consumers already faced with large bills found power costs increased each year and the golden age of electricity was fast fading Each year Hydro forecast greater costs and demand ed more revenue exceeding Inflation by leaps and bounds Ontario Hydro now acknowledges it got caught in the recession trap and demand for power was far below their expectations But it never seemed to slow down their expansion Even during those tumultuous days when the local Inter ested Citizens Group pro claimed that Hydro was overbuilding their empire and officials of the giant utility refused to face the obvious They continued to press for more and bigger facilities to expand the empire Eventually the bubble burst and consumers had to face the obvious costly power and a forecast that it would get even more costly as the years progress Infla tion might be controlled but it was futile to try and wrestle power costs to the ground When you pay your hydro bill now think back to the promises we heard during those expansionist days Remember to rely on your own common sense and that of your fellow citizens rather than the often glib promises from bureaucrats and politicians who let dreams divorce them from reality Who cares Finance Chairman told this little story just after the budget was passed Monday night An electrician a banker and a politician were asked if input exceeds output what is it called The electrician said overload the banker said overdraft and the politician said who cares Aint it the truth From the editor s Give every voter a say in selection of leaders In midJune citizens will decide who our next PM will be Presumably sometime not too long after that new takes of fice heshe will calf an election The leader of the Liberal party will either retain the prime ministers post or relingulsh It to Brian Mulroney of the Tories Therefore probably by the end of 1984 whoever is PM will have been selected for us by a gathering of either or 3500 citizens Put another way a maximum of Canadians will have presented a choice of two people to us for the most Important job in the nation Im sorry to all the socialists In the audience I am pre supposing Ed has no chance of winning the PMs post Now does this seem fair to you it certainly doesnt seem fair to me that such a small select crowd of died in the wool Grits and Tories will have made this important decision for us Is it any wonder that so many Canadians wind up leaving the polls disenchanted or feeling theyve Just voted against someone and not for someone else The average Joe who is an in dependent or not a heavyweight In the local Grit or Tory association has virtually no say in who well choose to lead our country much of the remainder of this decade Having just returned from a close look at the American system of choosing presidential candidates in Florida and other states I must confess envy The average voter down there has so much more input into the candidate selection process than we Canadians do I know the States is much larger know their system is radically different I know Joe taxpayer has never had any input or tradition of input up here Into the selection of party leaders But Its still not fair Granted Ihe American system is inconsistent and complicated some states hold primaries others caucuses some states they select bound delegates others dont some primaries are closed to only voters for a registered party members of the other party and independents dont get ballots other states its wide open to any voter etc but regardless of its many drawbacks it does seem considerably more democratic than the way we select party leaders I realize that in effect we dont directly vote for prime minister we vote for his partys representa tive or candidate in our riding But the vast majority of voters are in fact voting for the prime minister If that wasnt the case election ads wouldnt emphasize the leader so much Currently all that delegates to leadership conventions have to guide them in knowing which candidates have support from the voters arc polls Just ask Fritz or his New Hampshire workers how good polls arc Heck dam few delegates from these parts to recent conventions have even bothered telling the party rank and file which can didate theyre backing before being chosen for the trip Do delegates reflect many of us Dam few Maybe theyre out of tunc with us No its a far too narrow and privileged base of voters making this Important decision for all of us What Id like to see done up here is each province hold a primary beauty contest That way delegates would know far better who the voters back home favor and by how much Okay so now the delegates know which leadership candidates we Ihe parties apportion half of the delegates from a given province out to the leadership hopefuls on the basis of each candidates percentage of vote strength In the beauty contest poll The remaining half of he delegates from each province could then be chosen the tradi tional way and be guided by the which guide them now ideology personal encounter with hopefuls polls etc This would allow the party footsoldlers to have a large say In the decision made at the convention Of course opting for such a system in Canadian politics as foreign to our ways as it may be would require a permanent voters list which is updated regularly something which has been discussed In this country in the past Im not suggesting we have voter registration with people voluntarily giving their party affil iation up here just a voters list for the nation which requires each elector to have voting scat changed when he or she moves Right now it looks like it will be John Turner versus Mulroney In the next election But maybe if more than 3500 of us had some kind of a say in who the Grits will pick or even a chance to express a preference then wed uncover our own version of Gary Hart or it might be John Crosbie leading the Tories Newcastle resident warns against marketvalue assessment Dear Sir The Town of Newcastle Rate payers Association in the Region of Durham has an urgent message for ail property owners in the area served by your newspaper Our Association is currently engaged in a local fight against skyrocketing property taxes and inequitable property assessments Ten years ago our peaceful community was thrust into region al government Subsequently our new town council was convinced by provincial civil servants to be one of the first communities to experi ment with market- value property assessment The Ontario Ministry of Revenue has repeatedly suggested that the marketvalue assessment procedure would equalize property assessments In fact each time a r is now per in our community the Ministry refers to the process as an equalisation of assess ments We most warn all proper tax payers in Ontario that although use of the term equalization Implies fairness and equality actual of the principle of under Section S3 of the Assessment Act Is deceitful discriminatory and Section permits the use of dbcrlrnmatory data factors which allow some homes to be assessed at lower percentages of market value than others Section allows the assessors to apply widely different market values to virtually identi cal lands It is now obvious that the Assessment Act permits assessors to assign punitive values to small acreages Additionally the Ontario governments taxation policy permits certain and substantial classes of property owners to claim back more than half of the actual taxes paid To add further insult and discrimination the average homeowner must pay his property taxes from aftertax takehome pay while some property owners pay their property taxes from beforetax income Property values in some parts of our community have been driven up by speculators and developers whose ultimate objectives are pro fits Those left behind to bear tax load on these higher values are the established property owners who have for years formed the backbone or the community and who do not participate in the profit- taking marketvalue assessment system was brought to our town five years ago and is now creating greater property tax disparity than that which it was to correct In any community subjected to this insi dious system the taxes collected on a property no have any relationship to the services pro vided Although the services to homes in a neighborhood are the same for each household market- value assessment collects large amounts of property tax from some households and small amounts from others In some sections of our widely disbursed disparate and artificial town the services are substantially less than in other sections yet marketvalue assessment does not recognize the truth this fact Assessment equalization sounds great If applied to a theoretical model community But It has become obvious in the Town of Newcastle that the theory is not being applied and does not work Section permits glaring inequities and produced staggering and unpredictable property tax in creases in the absence of Increased services Provincial assessors proved thai they now have power to double a homeow taxes without regard for the ser vices received Marketvalue assessment has homeowners in tbe Tows of New castle scared because no longer do they control tbe factors upon which their property lama are cal culated Following our recent re assessment many homeowners have seen abjured estimated market values placed on their homes by the assessors and conse quently outrageously higher levels of property taxation for which their is no justification Many homeowners are now afraid that they will no longer be able to afford the property taxes on their homes especially during economic recession unemployment or retirement Marketvalue assessment has in stilled fear and resentment into backbone of the community because not only are homeowners punished for the diligence they have displayed in establishing their homes but they could be driven from their homes by uncon trolled market values and an in sensitive perverted assessment policy It has become obvious from our experience that the majority of local politicians have little interest In helping the property owners of our community to obtain a fair bey are solely interested defending their own actions pro tecting their image at Queens Park It is for these reasons that the ratepayers of tbe Town of New castle have decided we should share our concer with resders We are only a community of people spread over 230 square miles of this vast province It is inevitable that our ratepayers association will have little impact by itself on the policy makers at Queens Park But It our belief that there are many frustrated property owners throughout the province who feel abused and taken for granted by the property tax system If your community has not yet been introduced to marketvalue assessment If however your local council has already been duped by agents of the Ministry of Revenue you should take immedi ate action to Spurn any suggestion that your community be reassess ed under Section of the Assess ment Act It is lime that tbe Ontario Assessment Act be re written to remove the inherent dis crimination and the disincentives and to assure that each property taxpayers unite into local rate payers associations and that all ratepayers associations in Ontario unite to fight for property tax reform Our association would welcome a written communication from In dividual taxpayers and any rate payer associations Ontario joining us in what will be a tough and worthwhile fight James Town of Ratepayers Association 1 Bowmanville Ontario 10 years ago March ltT4 A foot wide swath of hydro towers likely be cut through the centre of the new town of Halloa Hills was the result of a report by the Solandf Commission revealed this week J Another Incident of rabies this time within limits has aroused more public concern Meadows a village resident feels citizens cannot be warned strongly enough to make them more aware of the potential danger prevalent tho area of the village and district at present J Halton Board of Education members gave their tentative ap proval to the education budget at their meeting Thursday a vote carried 104 after the board heard suggestions that the estimates should be cut down five per cent of by up to per cent years ago March IS IBM In response to inquiries a c has sought Information on the acquiring of separate curling facilities in Acton Queen St E and Young St are scheduled to be widened under the Department of Highways plans this summer council learned this Tues day In correspondence from department It is understood St work will be paid entirely by department and per cent of tl Young St cost will be borne by department with town paying per cent under the connecting lias agreement An Acton man George Harris VlmySt and Guelph resident found Friday March 13 unlucky when their cars were collision on Mam St 50 years ago March IS Weekly payments to men on relief work havo been amended The regular meeting of the Bustlers Club was held Friday evening Mr Anthony acted as chairman The audience was favored with an In strumental by Miss Margaret Brown a reading by Irmn Watson a violin solo by Mr Clarridgo and a musical selection by Messrs Harry and Melvin McCullough An in teresting feature was the reading of the EyeOpen Mr Gowdy is busy in the Lime- house saw mill making real nice lumber The neighbors are getting their wood piles cut into stove wood Other years there has been some competition but this year Mr John of Stewart town who owns and operates a splendid machine has tho field all to himself Lakeside chapter of the DE held a progressive croklneole party at the home of Miss Pearl Wallace Prizes were won by Miss Marquerlte Ryder and Mrs V Chatauqua which once filled great need has faded from the scene 75 years ago Mr Spence of Brant ford has leased the 200 acre farm of Mrs i John and will be moving to the property Ibis week The farm has been owned and occupied by the McKlnnon family since 1882 To fill in the vacancy caused by the leave of absence granted Miss Kate Kennedy a teacher of tbe primary grades at the Acton Public School the board of education has been very fortunate in securing the services of Miss Edith Complaint is made again that the freight trains are permitted to stand at the Mill St crossing longer than the law allows The robins have returned to area and the maple syrup Is coming to market TOO years ago March ISM The residents of Bower Ave demand a sidewalk this The Salvation Army have rented the Congregational Church now St Josephs and will attack Acton shortly Messrs Storey and Son bare broken ground for be new glove factory on Bower Ave Owing to bad roads Rev Dr Castle was unable to get from Georgetown to Acton to preach In tbe Baptist Church Mr J Morton tbe harness business Creech and wfl manufacture all rtistn of harness Egg ore down to cants merry basis ram put anray the roach art la