If Saskatchewan farmers want to resolve the decades-old education tax issue once and for all they must enlist the help of urbanites, says the Canadian Taxpayers Federation.
“I think that’s how we can get our win. We can get our win if we put pressure on the NDP’s core supporters,” said David MacLean, Saskatchewan director of a federation that represents 72,000 taxpayers.
The core support for the federation comes from rural Saskatchewan where members list the education tax issue as their top irritant.
Rural folks have been trying to convince the province to take on a bigger share of the kindergarten to Grade 12 education burden for decades.
Read Also
Short rapeseed crop may put China in a bind
Industry thinks China’s rapeseed crop is way smaller than the official government estimate. The country’s canola imports will also be down, so there will be a lot of unmet demand.
Lingering frustration boiled over earlier this year in the form of a tax revolt, with 64 rural municipalities now refusing to forward property tax money to their school boards.
“We don’t support illegal tax revolts but we sympathize with what’s going on here,” said MacLean.
However, if rural people want to make any headway on the longstanding irritant they should stop polarizing the province by portraying it solely as a rural issue.
Repeatedly stating that farmers and ranchers are shouldering an unfair proportion of the tax burden isn’t getting them anywhere.
“The key may rest in our larger urban centres. Urban voters must be reminded that we all pay the highest education taxes in Canada,” said MacLean.
“It’s time Saskatchewan residents spoke in unison – urban and rural alike.”
And that is starting to happen.
A coalition of five groups that includes the Saskatchewan Association of Rural Municipalities and the Saskatchewan Urban Municipalities Association recently sent a letter to premier Lorne Calvert calling on the province to increase education funding.
Within three years they want the government to be paying for 60 percent of the tab, up from the current level of 45 percent after tax credits. They say that will put Saskatchewan in line with the other provinces.
MacLean said the Canadian Taxpayers Federation was left out of the coalition because it is not a government group and there is tension between his federation and SUMA.
But he applauds the coalition for what it is doing.
“It’s time to follow the lead of provinces like Manitoba and Alberta and move school funding off properties and toward funding from general government revenues,” he said.
The coalition is calling for changes similar to those suggested in the January 2004 Boughen Commission report, which proposed a 70:30 provincial revenue to property tax ratio by the end of 2008.
But MacLean worries their request will be ignored just like Ray Boughen’s recommendations were. He has seen the government sidestep such suggestions in the past at events like SARM’s annual meeting.
“Politicians go to their convention every year and tell them what they want to hear and then walk away and close their doors on them.”
Lately provincial politicians have been tying property tax relief to an improved equalization payment deal with Ottawa.
“The government is using this as an excuse not to make homegrown solutions on school taxes,” said
MacLean.
