Did you know municipal politicians pay less income tax than you do? Are you aware that one-third of their salaries are designated tax-free, and therefore not subject to income tax?

Is that fair? Is it just? Or is it an outdated perk that needs to be dumped?

Not only is pay for mayors and councillors on the rise (see articles here and here for a few examples), but one-third of their salaries are tax-free allowances--a historic anachronism that needs to be changed. Technically, this tax-free allowance is supposed to take the place of claiming expenses, but that has fallen by the wayside in recent years.

Several years ago, the provincial government scrapped the tax-free allowance for its MLAs. Two years ago, the City of Victoria followed suit. But now it's time to change the law and dump this perk for all municipal politicians across the Province.

Everyone should pay their own way when it comes to taxes. It's neither fair nor just for someone to wriggle out of paying income tax just because they are an elected official.

To that end, the Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF) has launched a petition asking the Province to scrap the one-third tax-free allowance for municipal politicians. Please sign our petition, and ask your friends and neighbours to follow suit. Don’t hesitate to forward this email on to people you know are concerned about the property taxes they are paying.

You can also e-mail the Premier, Leader of the Opposition, Minister of Community, Sport and Cultural Development, and the President of the Union of B.C. Municipalities with your concerns.

With a new Auditor General for Local Government (AG-LG) being put into place later this year, we want to be ready. The CTF is putting together a package regarding municipal politician pay and perks, and we want to include your petitions supporting a recommendation to kill the one-third tax-free allowance. We plan to submit this package to the AG-LG and the Premier as soon as the new Auditor General is in place.

Politicians lose moral authority to stand up to public sector unions and fight for cost reductions at city hall when they themselves get a perk like a one-third tax-free salary. This needs to go—now.

By: Jordan Bateman
Posted: January 09, 2012
Topic: British Columbia

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