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Unity on trade a distant goal The more conservative among the Western trade exports say why should the taxpayers of rich nations put up a $3 billion fund to stockpile commodities in order to help governments and countries that expropriate private investments and in some cases even support terrorists. It would be of great benefit to the world‘s nations if such trade issues as commodity stabilization could be removed from the realm of ideology, and examined on théir practical merits. Statesmen have stressed that the aim must be to preserve an open environment for world trade in most products, but at the same time to build certain safeguards for poor nations. Waterloo Chromicle office is located on 2nd floor of Waterioo Square s Office Tower Enter via the mall entrance beside the Longhorn Restaurant (directly opposite the card shop} or from the elevator foyer beside the Tâ€"D Bank Take the elevator to the 2nd floor and vou are there These countries simply cannot endure the erratic swings in the world market for their few exports without seriously endangering their economies and sometimes even the health and the lives of their population. Yet understanding must prevail. And trade â€" fair trade â€" is one way to bridge the horâ€" rendous gap that still separates the rich from the poor nations. Clearly, the rich and the poor must work toward a compromise in regard to trade issues. Page 4 â€" Waterloo Chronicle, Wednesday, September 8, 1976 But the rich countries, led by the United States, had grave doubts. Washington in parâ€" ticular did not commit itself in any way to a common fund for financing buffer stocks of raw materials. Most of the free enterprise nations felt it would be difficult for them to support any trading system that requires a prior comâ€" mitment to the kind of commodity agreements that are based on a system of governmentâ€"adminâ€" istered prices. ' In other words, the capitalist traders of the world were lined up against those nations conâ€" trolled by Communist regimes and military dictatorships. The poorer nations continue to demand a fairer share of world trade â€" yet their hopes will not be realized for many years. The Third World countries had hoped to establish a comâ€" mon fund to stabilize wild price fluctuations in ten key commodities.. They pressed the issue at the recent United Nations Conference on Trade and Development â€"(UNCTAD) held in Nairobi. With the August gallop polls showing the Conservatives at a whopping 47% in voter appeal and the Liberals slipping badly to a new low of 29%, new attention is being focused on the leadership capacity of Joe Clark. Many pundits express disappointment that he has not yet promised to walk on water. Nor has he presented a package of legislative reforms which his government would institute if elected. In 1956, John Diefenbaker was elected leadâ€" er of the Conservative party and within a few months he was called upon to form a governâ€" ment. That government had not had sufficient time before being called upon to serve to deâ€" velop its policies through a team approach. waterioo chronicle A View from the Grass Roofs published every Wednesday by Fairway Press. a division of Kitchenerâ€"Waterloo Record Ltd . owner 225 Fairwavy Rd. S . Kitchener. Ont address correspondence to Waterloo office Waterloo Square. Waterloo. Ont . telephone 886â€"283C Publisher: James M Boland Editor Mary Stupart subscriptions: $10 a year in Canada. $12 a vear in United States and Foreign Countries e BICB (FOHL The province has almost completed the reassessment of all properties in Ontario. It is intended that once market . value is established it will be kept up to date. The use of United Church property taxation will continue to be the exclusive right established 1854 There will be a meeting at the Kitchener Public Library on September 30th. In Budget Paper E the Government gave a brief review of the background of, and reasons for market value assessment, which may be of interest. During this period, Ontario experienced rapid urbaniâ€" zation and inequities grew within some municipalities as new properties were brought onto the assessment roll, and the values of older properties were upâ€"dated. Meanwhile, the sharing of costs and responsibilities among municiâ€" palities, and between municipalities and the Province, steadily increased in importance. The provincial government has established a Commisâ€" sion to review the Proposals for Tax Reform which were contained in Budget Paper E of this year‘s Provincial Budget. This Commission is conducting a series of meetâ€" ings throughout the Province this summer and fall, beâ€" fore submitting its recommendations to the Government. The values upon which taxes are currently levied date as far back as 1940. They are values which were determined by local assessors taking into account factors which were important to each municipality, but not necessarily imporâ€" tant beyond the boundaries of each. As provincial grants were increased over the years, local and provincial financing became more interrelated. Because the locallyâ€"determined property assessment was the base for sharing many costs and determining grant enâ€" titlements, deficiencies in equalizing assessments created inequities in provincialâ€"municipal financing. The province adopted a system of equalization factors to correct the variations in local property assessments. At best, however, these factors could correc@only in the total sense for different growth patterns and valuation practices. The factors could not account for changes in the values of individual properties. Initially, completion of the reassessment program was planned for December 1975 for 1976 taxation. However, in a relatively short period of time. the real estate market in Ontario became extremely active with prices rising at unprecedented and unexpected rates. These conditions caused values placed on properties to be hopelessly out of date within several months, making meaningful tax analyses impossible. Therefore, the schedule for the imâ€" plementation of reassessed values was delayed until the 1977 tax vear. Joe Clark is determined to use this two year period before he is called upon, to the best adâ€" vantage. o â€" O Joe Clark has devoted the first six months of his leadership to reconciliation within the party, caucus organization and, most iumportantâ€" ly, becoming known personally by the people in the country. He has travelled over 50,000 miles across the country in that time. His risâ€" ing popularity is a testimony to the success of this program. For those who demand immediate policy statements on a broad range of issues, there will be disappointment. It is in the election of 1978 that the Conservative policies will be subâ€" iberal Party Line of local governments almost the only source of revenues. The property tax has proven to be a somewhat regressive system of raising local funds. â€" jected to public scrutiny. No other level of government uses property as a tax source. Furthermore, local governments have considerâ€" able flexibility in setting mill rates in accordance with their financial requirements. With the,introduction of the property tax credit system the regressive features of the tax are diminished to some extent. During this period of reassessment, the province has also been analysing the effects of the new values on the distribution of taxes among taxpayers and on municipal finance. The development of a compatible property tax system for introduction with market value assessments is fundamental to a pragmatic program of reform. l In the meantime, the party and the caucus are working together in committees developing plans and programs with a progressive conâ€" servative bent. Jack Horner, who is the transportation critic, will be conducting interviews and hearings to learn the peoples‘ views on transportation. Claude Wagner, the foreign affairs critic, is now touring Europe with Mr. Clark to assist in the development of a progressive conservative approach in foreign policy. Farmland, farm buildings, managed forests and farm residences would be assessed at market value. Farmland, farm buildings, and managed forests would be taxed at 100% of market value a n d the taxes would be paid by the Province. Farm residences would be taxed as all other residences at 50% market value and the taxes paid by the owner. There would be a provision to recover taxes paid by the Province if the property changes use. # I will report further on the Government‘s Proposals for Reform of Property Taxation in Ontario, and shall be inâ€" terested to hear any comments and views on this subâ€" ject. These are just two examples of the Conâ€" servative program to develop policies for the Under the proposals, residences in Ontario, collectively would bear a reduced share of property taxes and resiâ€" dential property would be redefined to include only resiâ€" dences and a reasonable amount of land. The current practice of levying different mill rates on residential and commercial properties would be discontinued. All real property used for the purpose of a business includâ€" ing government administrative facilities would be subject to an additional assessment of 50% of market value for busiâ€" ness taxes. This action, I feel, would work to the disadvanâ€" tage of small retail business, and benefit large financial institutions and some industries. “-l-tv l-nas‘be;n known for some number of years that a shift of taxes would result, from commercial and industrial to residential property. _ _ . The government‘s proposals for reform of property taxaâ€" tion are intended to establish an appropriate distribution of tax burdens among classes of real property, to achieve a more neutral business assessment rate; and to broaden the local tax base by removing exemptions. j By Edward R. Good, MPP Waterloo North By Richard Hobson Continued on page 5