Dear Editor
Tax time is here. Thanks to the NOW for warning us about increased property taxes. We all pay directly as property owners, or as renters indirectly through landlords. We also pay through businesses and organizations like the Hastings Street Legion with its sign still boldly proclaiming "born free, fought for freedom, taxed to death."
Add to that city water and garbage charges, due shortly. Have you dared to read your 2015 city utility bill? How much higher was it than 2014? Mine was 8.5 per cent higher. Over the last 10 years it's up over 103 per cent. And no brownie points for all the eco-friendly effort to cut back on water use and garbage output.
Tower developers and city unions contributed most of the BCA's obscene $476,000 total reported election campaign donations. Their generousity indicates support for increases to our bills. But their generosity also resulted in an unprecedented number of condo and election brochures for me to transport (unwaged labour) to the recycling bin. The bin is then picked up (waged labour) by city staff that paid for many of the brochures in the first place.
So, could we channel a portion of these election donations to a fund that incentivizes unwaged eco-friendly civic labour by reducing our bills?
Helen Ward, 2014 Burnaby First Coalition council candidate
