The Saskatchewan rural municipal tax protest has the support of about 40 percent of the province’s RMs, says its spokesperson, Glenn Blakley.
As of Jan. 6, 108 RMs are withholding the education portion of property taxes from their school boards with another 10 offering moral support, said Blakley of Tax Action Group, which represents the RMs that are in revolt.
“It’s a moving target as far as the number of RMs.”
Blakley used the RM of Scott as an example of what rural taxpayers are facing under the current tax regime. He said the RM, which has 42 school-aged children, paid more than $1 million in education taxes in 2005, which works out to $24,000 per student, far more than the $3,850 per student average under the Saskatchewan provincial government budget. Most of the tax was on agricultural property.
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TAG said several other RMs are also paying more education tax than the provincial average.
While complaints about the unfair burden on property tax have been around for years, Blakley said he is starting to hear encouraging comments from the provincial government. Deputy premier Clay Serby told two meetings before Christmas, including one held by the Agricultural Producers Association of Saskatchewan, that the education tax must be dealt with.
And the New Year message from premier Lorne Calvert said the issue would be dealt with in 2006. That is a year sooner than what intergovernmental relations minister Len Taylor had been saying earlier this fall.
The province now pays 45 percent of the education bill while property holders pay 55 percent, among the highest ratios in Canada.
“My theory is they want to get the larger amalgamated districts in place and they’ll cost us more money,” Blakley said.
“Then they’ll set new mill rates in the fall of 2006.”
He said the tax increases he expects as a result of the larger school divisions could be as high as three mills, or a 38 percent increase in the RM of Spy Hill, where he is a councillor.
Blakley will be speaking at a number of public meetings arranged by various RMs this winter. No public demonstrations have been planned.
Blakley said he appreciates the problem the tax revolt is causing school boards, but he expects the financial crunch won’t come for them until the spring. However, he noted at least one school division, Chinook, had sent a letter to its RMs threatening legal action if they don’t pay their taxes.
“We feel somewhat comfortable that the RMs are in charge. It’s not that we don’t have the money. We could cut the cheque. This is a political protest.”
Blakely said the RMs are willing to pay their share of the education tax but they don’t believe the system is fair.
