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FREE DISTRIBUTION WEDNESDAY AUGUST 16th 1989 32 PAGES Sales tax is confusing weak businesses say Soccer it to them Julie Jolfe Ron of Georgetown displays her prowess Canada Monday for a Mcccrplaytng oar of with A of the Ontario Previa- Dmark See story if Herald Photo by Colin team her teammates By DONNA KELL Herald Staff The new national sales tax is confusing weak and complicated business people in Halton Hills are saying The Goods and Service lax released officially federal finance minister Michael Wilson last week will mean a cent tax on most goods and vices across the country It will replace a per cent tax on about per cent of manufactured foods with a tax on all manufactured goods except for grocery items medical items and a short list of other foods and services And it will mean an overhaul of sales structures in Canada in On tario and in Hills according to some business owners Former Georgetown Chamber of Commerce Murray Lawton who owns a Canadian Tire franchise in Georgetown will spend 000 on new cash registers this fall to handle the cent federal tax MORE ON TAXES PAGES 4 And I not even sure if they the machines are going to work Mr said That s how simple the new tax is he added It stinks I think there a simpler way of getting money that not baffling all the people The government lately seems to want to boggle everyone s mind But in the Goods and Services Tax GST overview issued by the finance minister last week the goverment said the new tax would be simpler than the existing federal sales tax The present tax is very com both for business to comply with and for the government to ad minister Mr Wilson writes The government is committed to making the Goods and Services Tax straightforward But lawyer and Halton Hills Chamber of Commerce president David Page said last week that the new system is unnecessarily complicated Every province but Alberta will have two separate taxes he said adding that there should one integrated sales tax The government should tax be chamber said Tin progressive vatives probably gave in to too many pressure groups Pressures from such groups would cause the government to tax clothes and shelter but not food although all are considered necessities Mr Page said The government should have the guts to tax everything but at a lower rate he said Government subsidized institu tions such as colleges and univer si ties not pay the cent tax Charitable organizations when not competing in a market will be spared the goods and ser vice tax in many cases But the federal government Page I False alarms are a hazard to police Frequent false alarms ing across the province disrupt police service and may in some instances endanger police of Staff Inspector Roy Taylor of the Regional Police force says Since only one or two per cent of alarm activations are legitimate police respond to alarm calls without exercising the caution they otherwise might Staff Taylor said False alarms definitely tie up valuable nan power he said The sounding of one alarm in volves a minimum of people A police complaints person first takes the call and passes it on to the dispatcher The dispatcher notifies at least two police of who investigate the call Meanwhile the dispatcher has to monitor the situation until it is resolved Staff Insp Taylor ex plained There was a 20 per cent jump the number of false alarms in Halton from 1987 to Two years ago there were calls but last year that figure increas ed to he said Serge in t Dave Gwilhams crime prevention coordinator for Halton Region Police said the number has slightly decreased since 1988 While police report 6049 false alarms from January to the end of July of there Continued on page