WHJTM3Y FREE ýRESS WEDNESDAY, AUGUBT 23, 1989, PAGE 7 PAGESEVEN, -MIGH T« FOR A TAX REVOLT If you havent written your MP and told lm "you're not going to, take it anymore," there's probably no better tirne than riglit now ta do it. Because if you and mil lions« like- you dont, then corne January, 1991 you will be paying one of the most usurous taxes in the western world and suffering higher inflation, economic slowdown and more unemployinent as a direct resuit. 1The only argument for the new goods and services ta x is that the government needs the money and obvlously it lias ta corne from us sornehow. They- argue that the present manufacturer's sales tax is not fair but this one is. The key support for the tax, long before the details were ever announced, cornes, not surprisingly, from the Canadian Manufacturers Association. They see themselves becorning more competitive in export markets when the rnanufacturer's sales tax is removed. In order ta, ensure their support, the feds raised that. tax from. 12 ta 13 1/2 per cent in' their first phase of tax reform. Now they're going to drap it té 9 per cent and make everybody else pay it too. In the cold glare of reality, not too many manufaicturers are likely ta be cheering very loudly. Not only is the decrease far less than they wanted, but it will be doubtiess offset by higher costs in other ways. This ia also the same government that la currently crippling exporta through a hlgli interest rate/Uhl currency value policy. The traditional support for Tory governments cornes from business organizations but one of those, the Canadian Federation of Independent Business, has corne out solidly against it. Thé. CFIB is the only business group that directly polis ita 80,000 members (rnoatly smali businesses) on a regular basis ta find out what they think. When its president, John Bulloch apeaka out agalnst something, lie speaks with a direct mandate frorn its members. Srnall business la justifiably angry about the bureacracy that will iesult ,frorn laving ta, keep track of this tax at ail levels of economluc* activity and they are especially concerned about having to collect.two separate taxes at the retail level. This taxwill bit the little guy - small'businesses and Iconsu- mera - far harder than big business which lias the computers to handleMnything the government throws their way. Srnall business tends to get bast in thé rnega-project mania that perfuses our federal government. WhiI.e big business grabs the headlines when they create a hundred jobs in. a new factary and even bigger. when a merger elirinates 200 others, amall businesses plug away creating eighty percent of ahl new jobs. They are also the source of moat of the inovation and rnost of the econornic growth. Anything that hurts amali business is ging to hurt the country. With an economic lowdown already underway, the compound effect of this new tax could be devastating. The argument that the rnoney lias ta corne from us sorne- liow la niisleading. What this government lacks la imagina- tion. It needs ta trade in ita blinkers for a-pendi sharpener. Tlhe reason we need the money la because of unemployment. ,Recently, federal bureaucrate have been musing that perliaps 7 per cent unemployrnent sliould be considered ful ernployment. They reason that since we haven't been able ta get below that figure for years, rnaybe we can't. I suggest they walk down any business street and read the lielp wanted signa in the shop windows. Or perhaps they should pick up a copy of any major newspaper and read the dozens of pages of jobs being offered by employers that are desperate for good help but can't find it. The misrnatch between the unemployed and the jobs available is a chronic deep-rooted problern that only gets worse. It involves inappropriate education, lack of information about opportunities, lack of incentive ta try something new, and inadequate coordination between business, training agencies and Canada manpower. In short, a bureaucratie quagmire that involves all levels of government. It is a problem that will only be solved by the will ta salve it. The bureaucracy needs ta be turned upside down and ahaken very liard 'til the deadwood falîs out. Then with a new mandate ta 801ve the problemn... Canada lias approxirnately a million unemployed. If we put 600,000 of these back ta work (reduced unernployment ta about 3%), the federal treasury would save about $6 billion dollars per year inunuernployment benefits. It would also dlrectly generate about a billion in uew incorne tax revenue, The Canadin (circa 1989): or canuckus brokeus, known for hi.s ability to withstand extremely cold temperatu.res this peculiar (now extinet) was wiped out by a relentless and lethal diseuse known coxnmonlyas the' Michael Wilson Virus or taxus bethedeathofus. 'j * ~ i MAFLE MHADE FABM% THE RESIDENCE 0F THE HON. JOHN DRYDEN, C. 1900 John Dryden, Ontario's Minister of Agriculture from 1890 ta 1905, lived in this house on Columbus Road east of Thickson Road. The property, purchased by has father James Dryden in 1832, was owned by four generations of Drydens until it was sald in 1965. Whltby AreMves photo 10 TEARS AGO from the Wednesday, August 22Z 1979 edition of the WITBYFREE PRESS " Faith Baptiat Churcli will move ta Anderson Collegiate until a new $1.5 million churcli is built on Taunton Road next year. " Elizabeth Brown of Brooklin is going ta Brazil an a Rotary Club Youth Exchange programn. * Brooklin Redmnen hast ta Brampton in the Outario Lacrosse Association playoffa. " The proposed expansion of tlie Family Kartways go-kart is stalled because it contravenes tlie tawn's by-laws. 25 YEARS AGO from tlie Thursday, August 20, 1964 edition of the WHITBY WEEIKLY NEWS " Councillors Tom Edwards and George Brooks want a report made on tlie need for low rentaI houaing in Whitby. " The Town of Whitby wants the Ontario Department of Agriculture ta disciplinq Ontario County for its poor weed control service. " The Central Lake Ontario Conservation Autliority has failed ta acquire the land it wanted for a conservation area near Brooklin. " George Hamers, a plumber in Witby since 1929, dipd on Aug. 9 at the age of 75. 75 TEARS AGO from the Thursday, August 20, 1914 editianî of the WHITBY GAZET AND CHRONICLE " Town Council gave five dollars ta each of WVhitby's 18 volunteers wlio are leaving for the battlefields of Europe. " Mrs. Josephi Bandel, hostesa at the Whitby House hotel, died on Aug. 18 at the age of 81. " Mrs. J.E. Willis, wife of Whitby's mayor, is president of the Whitby War Relief Society. " Two carpenters from the Hospital for the Insane, under construction~ at the lake, volun- teered for war service aud were given a noisy send-off at thie Whitby Junction station. * - -- J ~ ~ ~ ~ - I - il 2v 1- mf ---i 1