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Page 8 THE HERALD Wednesday January Chamber of commerce angry with health tax The Hills Chamber of Commerce representing over 350 businesses in Hills is deeply distressed over the Employer Health Tax that came into effect Jan l This act introduced in the spring budget by the Ontario Government has eliminated OHIP premiums and replaced it with a tax on the gross payroll of com Chamber Made pames both large and small OHIP premiums generated over billion per year which was used by the Ministry of Health to provide services to the residents of On tano Some companies paid on behalf of their employees others paid part and many small companies paid none at all In addition the Chamber feels that this tax is in some cases ap plied unfairly to business people The tax is levied on payroll paid to employees by companies however certain professions who have higher than normal incomes such as doctors dentists lawyers farmers accountants and certain other professions are exempt due to the way that they are paid Everyone uses health care arid the costs should be borne by all segments of our society not paid by one source alone The chamber met with our local Walt Elliot and also sent a general letter of protest about the provincial government relying on tax increases and not spending cuts to control government budgets To date we have received very little satisfaction and felt it was necessary to bring the facts out about this highly inflationary new tax To fund trje ever increasing cost of providing health services in this province the government will now levy a tax on the gross payroll of employers which starts at per cent and goes to per cent depending on the amount of the wages paid out OHIP premiums were a set amount of about per month for a family however under the new system there is no limit Let us use for example an employee earning per year under OHIP premiums the employer if paying all the premium the cost would be about however now the employer will pay per year The max ltnum for the family under the old system was about per year Now if we look at the same as above with the main bread winner earning per year the spouse their year old son who works part time earn per year the employers will now remit per year more than double what would nave been paid under the premium method Where is this extra money going to come from Well if possible the company will pass it along to their customers in the form of price in creases and if they cannot due to competition from offshore the company will have to absorb it or go out of business This tax is un fair to companies who have chosen to make Ontario their home and will make it harder for many to compete with their foreign com Debtors Of major concern to business is that this tax in the future will be very easy to in crease further eroding profits or forcing some companies to move In defence of this move Treasurer Bob Nixon stated that most major companies now paid OHIP on behalf of their employees and this measure was giving a break to employees of small firms However from the example shown above of the family with a total in come of the government will now double their revenue us ing this tax The government added insult to injury by forcing some firms cur rently paying OHIP as a corporate benefit to pay both OHIP premiums and the Employer Health Tax for the first quarter of This in the view of the chamber is wrong and we believe dishonest as well If any private company in Ontario tried to charge double for its service it would be reprimanded The Halton Hills Chamber of Commerce believes this is a bad tax and must be challenged This can only happen if we express our outrage to our Walt Elliot the Treasurer Bob Nixon and Premier David Peterson For fur ther information about the or to express your concerns please contact the chamber office at 7119 RECYCLING It do Please Remember to Recycle This Newspaper STEVEN C FOSTER BA LLB BARRISTER SOLICITOR MAIN ST SOUTH GEORGETOWN ONT 3G2 873 fax 8734962 Will Campeau follow Iacocca News that Robert American empire has filed for pro tection from creditors under U S bankruptcy law recalls a similar petition made a decade ago In Lee head of Chrysler Corp also sought under Chapter Chrysler was able to get bark on its feet thanks to billion in government loan guarantees Campeau subsidiaries may not be so fortunate The Chrysler example has not been lost on Campeau Corp It turns out that the man who negotiated the Chrysler loan guarantees on behalf of the U S government William Miller is a director of one of s ail ing subsidiaries Federated Department Stores Apparently Mr Miller will be heading the workout as well only this time on the com pany side Mr Miller is expected to be appointed chairman of Campeau S the holding com pany that owns Federated as well Good service good coverage good price- Thats State Farm insurance 1 Guelph St Georgetown 8731833 Like a good neighbor State Farm is there FARM INSURANCE as Campeau other retail store chain Allied Stores A VIP Mr Miller s credentials are im pressive He is a former chairman of the Federal Reserve Board the S central bank He is also a former S Treasury Secretary the American version of a finance minister Federated and Allied are not bankrupt nor is Corp of Toronto A Chapter filing simply means that the stores will be able to go about their business as usual without having to worry about creditors not shipping goods or bankers foreclosing on their pro perties The stock market scarcely flin at the news By mid afternoon Monday Campeau stock was trading at down cents from the previous close Meanwhile behind the scenes the Campeau debacle seems to have left hard feelings all around The brothers who tried to bail Mr out are being blamed for not succeeding The first one to point a finger curiously enough was one of the Reichmanns own bankers Citibank of New York The reason insiders say is that Citibank did not want to be blamed for plunging Federated and Allied into receivership Neither did anyone else The Reichmanns meanwhile had decided a long time ago to wash their hands of the mess if junk bondholders would not agree to exchange their debt for equity Bondholders turned down Campeau s offer last Thursday HALTEL Communication Inc Panasonic presents The Really Portable Fax Its in the BAG JUST LOOK AT THESE FEATURES Hook up your own phone and you got the business coming you Take I along you and you re Speake phone 10Slal on GDI Compel bio with Mode S Telephone Ope on Purchase from an Authorized Panasonic Dealer Guelph Street Georgetown Ontario In Business For Business IDC qOouin5Wfn PECI FILE FOLDERS Rcmsfbto feature permits left or right filing with the same folder Your choice of pi Ivory or pt per box COLOUR FILE FOLDERS Red Blue Green Orange Yellow Organize your files by colour CODE DESCRIPTION 1 BOX 5 BOXES 7265 Letter 10 10 i2Dt 99 CODE DESCRIPTION 210100 Letter Letter 10 i2pt Legal 9 210210 Legal AS LOW AS 949 1 BOX BOXES 949 999 1199 99 SPEEDFRAME 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