.WHIIY FREE PES WEDNESDAYAUGUST,30,19819, PAGE 7 PAGE SEV.EN NGT - AN ALTERNATIVE TO GST The provinces were unanirnous last week in condemning the goods and services tax, but as Michael Wilson was quick, te point out, they offered no alternatives. Which'only emphasizes the fact that there are eleven gevernments in this country who-lack the ability te selve our econornic preblems. Whatthey lack is creativity. In 1984, we elected Brian Mulroney because he offered a new vision to replace the worn-out cliches of bis predecessers. In 1968, we elected Trudeau for the same reasons, and in 1957 it was John Diefenbaker. Well, the honeynoen's over. The GST, which simply juggles the tax burden, is apparently the best this government can do and the provincial premiers have nothing better te offer. Reducing it is no solution. AIl the GST does is pass the tax burden te more people. Anybody - you, me, any high-scbool drop-out - could have done as well. But there are alternatives. I developed some quite simple ideas for restructuring our economy more than twenty years ago. They rnay not be original but, then, I haven't corne across them anywhere else. I arn, of course, net an economist, but neither is Michael Wilson or John Crow. Frankly I think we aIl have a headstart over those that are. An economist, after ail, is simply a specially educated person who can predict the course of the economy ... and be wrong at least ninety per cent cf the time. What I have is a clear head and the ability to add two and two. So here goes - tbe NGT - the National Growtb Tax. Remember, you read it here first. Our econonIy is regionalized. Cape Breton and the Yukon are very different from Southern Ontario. Monetary policy (interest rates) whicb the federal governrent currently uses te control the econorny fails te recogriize this., We need a mechanism -that can encourage growth in one area while slowing things down in another. The manufacturers sales tax is neither the cuiprit nor the cure. Nor is the GST. We need a constructive tex - one that produces a desired effect as a by-product of raising money. (Sucb as Ontaio's higher tax on leaded gasoline - it bas the desirable result cf less lead in the air without costing us any more.) The national grewth tax would be a variable sales tex. Instead cf sacrificing the poor regions te the higher interest rates tbat control Toronto's inflation, the sales tax could be lowered in those areas te encourage regional develepment. Instead cf providing subsidies, loans and grants te encourage businesses to locate in depressed areas which bas been the tradional appreach, the sales tax could be lower te give goods frorn that region a competitive advantage. And goods frem tbe overcbarged economy cf Soutbern Ontaro could be taxed higher so th-qt their sales would slow down. But let's take this one step further. Let's make this tax sectoral as well as regienal. If tbe housing market, for example, is eut cf control but the car mnarket is depressed then raise the tax on bouses and lower it on cars. If experts need encouragement, then lower the tax on that sector. Unlike interest rates, the national growth tax would have flexibility. Whereas interest rates are a blunt instrument with ne finesse, the proposed tex would be a precision tedl te fine tune the econerny. It would be able te pinpoint a struggling industry in need cf a boost or encourage new jobs in an area cf high unenipîcyment. The new tax might be zero in a place like Cape Breton or as high as, sar, 20 per cent in a place like Toronto. But te compensate, interest rates would be lower. If tbe sales tax were used te regulate the econorny then interest rates could drop back te reasonable levels. Mortgages and business leans would stabilize and the risk cf recessien would be greatly reduced. I arn incined to believe that, for simplicity, it should be applied at the rnanufacturing or distribution level, but likely its base should include a wider range of the ecenemy. The key question is who would do the regulating - obvieus- ly it could net be left te poiticians - every MP would insist that bis area required special treatment. An independent regulating body would have te be formed. Beyond determin- ing how mucb inoney was te be raised, the governiment would bave ne direct say in who got taxed and h w ruch. The idea cf a floating taxation rate may seern strange but it really would be no different than fioating interest rates. An REvSIDENCE 0F JOSEPH KING, GREEN STRET, C. 1953 This fine brick home was built in 1919 on the block- bounded by Green, St. John, Athol and Ontario'Streets for Joseph King, owners of the King Brothers' Tannery where the Mr. Grocer store is now. Joseph King moved to Toronto in 1956 and the house was demolished ini 1977. WhItby Arddves photo 10 TEARS AGO from the Wednesday, August 29, 1979 edition of the WHITY FREE PRESS " Whitby's assessment is down $4 million as residential building permits decrease. " Whitby Sea Cadets toured the destroyer HMCS Saguenay when it docked at Oshawa barber. *Erosion control is being carried out on Lynde Creek at the Hleber Down Conservation Area. *The Whitby Kinette Club is selling souvenir mlugs and plates featuring the Lynde House Museum. 25 YEARS ADO from the Thursday, August 27, 1964 edition of the WHITBY WEEKLY NEWS *Councillor Harry Inkpen is making a study of downtown parking. *Debentures will be sol "d directly to Whitby residents to raise money to build an addition te R. A. Hutchison Public School. " Some Ontario County offices will move te the new court house on Rossland Road on the Labor Day weekend. " Eighty per cent of building permits issued in July were for residential purposes, including three triplexes. 7à YEARS ADO from the Thursday, August 27, 1914 edition of the WHiTBYr GAZETTE AND CHRONICLE " Alfred j3. Wyman, of Whitby, drowned in Lake Scugog on Aug. 24. " Wet weather is hampering the construction of sanitary sewers in Wbitby. " Four young laies of the Red Crossl Corps held a tea te, raise funds for bandages te be sent te the soIdièrs in Europe. " Miss Ada Sleep, of Port WVhitby, is writing in the Gazette and Chronicle about ber-trip te the Canadian West.