I think the system is broken when municipalities can tax a captive (ie home or land owner) any arbitrary amount they require for their political agenda.

The only good that can come of it is if your community is the conservative community that doesn't spend and thus can attract new business from a tax advantage over those drunk on debt and forced taxation excesses. PG is a city drunk on debt and home/land taxation IMO, and this is the primary reason why our city has been in decline year after year for the last two decades... with not one new significant non governmental employer locating in our city for nearly four decades now.

Industry reads about $150 million in spending this city doesn't have the resources to pay for (RCMP building, PAC, and airport road =$150 Million)... and they want nothing to do with locating their industry in this tax and spend money hole. The people that live here are captive in their homes to the dreams of a select few at city hall... industry on the other hand can choose where they want to locate and anyone that does not think tax rates play into this decision does not count their own money.

IMO municipalities should be funded by consumption taxes and not property taxes... those that consume should pay, and those that save or live on fixed income should be allowed to live in freedom from forced taxation.

I think the municipalities should be the ones that collect the gas tax, as well as receive a share of the GST paid in their communities, and this should be off set by an elimination of property taxes for anything other than services those properties receive like roads, water, sewer, garbage, and fire protection.

Policing costs, parks, recreation, civic grants, municipal studies or consultants, and other civic expenditures should not be paid for with forced taxation at all in a truly free country... these should be funded by consumption taxes alone.

The federal, provincial, and municipal governments are all to blame for this massive problem we are in today that undermines our whole economy, as well as the communities that make up our economy. It is seen as an us-verses-them issue of taxation and bureaucracy empire building, and that facts are that we are one people with three broken levels of government destroying the free enterprise economy through fiefdom greed. With one voter for all levels of government it is the voter that needs to fix this problem.

Its not just West Fraser that have decided to take these Citys to the wall for excess taxing. Other companies are doing the same. At least these companies have the money and time to fight City Hall. The average taxpayer doesnt. Lets hope that the Cities that reduce taxes to large corporations, do not try and recoup this money from home owners.

I agree with Eagleone that Federal, Provincial, and Municipal Governments are all gouging the taxpayers. We have little or no way to fight back.

One would think that we would get some elected officials that would seriously consider reducing costs, and taxes, however it hasnt happened yet. Are all our elected politicians brain dead, or do they think that citizens are brain dead, and therefore do whatever they please.

Common sense tells you that to get industry and people to locate, lower taxes is an incentive. Also good streets, school system, hospital facilities, etc; These are the areas that the local politicians shuld be working on.

Seems the focus in this town is always on construction projects, needed or otherwise, and the spending of tax dollars, and little else.

When you see the amount of money spent, and wasted on big projects, then you can clearly see why we do not have any decent roads, and high taxes.

The local Council has to take a broom and clean out all high paid help at City Hall. These people have been there with their high paid salaries for years, and now beleive that they are entitled. Spending our money has now become their main function, and saving money is a concept that they clearly do not understand.

"Dennis Clare, manager of the Eurocan operation, commented: "We have commenced legal proceedings in order to preserve our right to formally challenge the municipal tax increase that we believe is unreasonable"

Maybe if industry tried something similar in PG in an attempt to shift their tax burden onto us (that's their true agenda as I see it), we could try something similar and "commence legal proceedings in order to preserve our right to breathe clean air, air that we believe has been compromised by industry in an unreasonable manner".

I'm sure there would be a hotshot environmental laywer somewhere in Canada looking to make a name for themself by taking on the contributors to the worst airshed in the country. We'd probably have a better chance of finding that than they will of finding a judge who would actually rule on what a "reasonable" tax increase would look like . . .