Withhold taxes

In mid-August I submitted a petition from the ratepayers of our RM which led to a meeting on Oct. 6 in Weyburn.

For my part, the petition was not easy to circulate and I don’t think it was easy to sign. Withholding RM (rural municipality) taxes means individual involvement. It means personally taking a stand, drawing a line that has consequences that directly affect the petitioner.

I have worked hard with several other people in trying to get a resolution we could use at all tax revolt meetings. Like many others I’m sure, I have spent quite a bit of time talking to reeves, councillors and even Mr. Harrison, the president of SARM (Saskatchewan Association of Rural Municipalities.)

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I asked each of them why they were not leading us in this crisis. All their replies were basically the same: we are doing what we can, but until we get direction from our ratepayers, we are limited to what we can do.

Wow. Here is the only segment of our governmental system working the way it should, and it has tied their hands. So, with these thoughts in mind, I tried to rearrange the words of previous tax revolt resolutions to give the RM council the power to act on our behalf. If they need direction from the ratepayers, let’s give it to them.

The resolution: That the ratepayers of the RM of Weyburn withhold their taxes until the education portion of our property tax is removed and applied fairly to all Saskatchewan residents.

Furthermore, we demand the RM of Weyburn actively lobby on our behalf to attain a solution to the farm crisis.

At our meeting in Weyburn, it became apparent this resolution was not as clear as I thought. When I said property taxes, did I mean all property taxes or just property taxes on agricultural land? Personally I mean all property taxes. …

Taxes for education should not be based on property. They should be based on the ability to pay. If you do business here, and make money, you should pay tax. …

The property base of many corporations in Saskatchewan is shrinking. For example, our neighboring RM, Wellington, had four towns. Each town had four elevators and a railway running through them.

Now, nothing remains but dying hamlets. CPR and CNR have abandoned miles of track, thus closing all the elevators they served. The taxes they paid on those properties has been shifted onto all our properties….

To me, property taxes are, in part, responsible for the crisis we face. Applying fair tax on education can be one way our provincial government can ease the pressure on people facing low income to actual losses in their businesses.

I ask people to take a stand now, for the future. I know it is a hard thing to do. All I wanted to do was farm, contribute where I could, raise a family, and be left alone. Forces beyond me are making this impossible….

Don’t for one second think that the people who are working on our behalf are doing this for prestige or the money. These grassroots people are doing this because they know we are about to lose something our forefathers came here to get, and this country has fought for in two world wars.

That thing is freedom, the right to live as we like without hurting anyone and the ability to contribute where we can. I was raised to believe that freedom was a right in Canada, not a privilege that can be purchased by a select few. …