The Leamington Post and News for tells of a tax protest in Stormont County, Ontario:
Stormont farmers refuse to pay education taxes in campaign of OFA
Fifteen Stormont County property-owners refused to pay their education taxes last week.
First, they gathered outside Mr. Arnott Empey’s office in the town of Berwick.
Mr. Empey is Clerk of Finch Township.
Then, one at a time, they entered his office and handed him a cheque. Their
cheques covered only the township and county portion of their property taxes.
All fifteen property-owners, most of them farmers, refused to pay the
education portion.
Said Mr. Empey, “I guess they withheld about $5,000 altogether. The biggest
single amount withheld on a bill was $300, although one businessman who had
seven separate tax bills withheld a total of about $1,100.[”]
Mr. Empey added, “It doesn’t really matter to me if they withhold or not. I
just treat it as a partial payment.”
The Stormont county demonstration was just one of the many that
property-owners have organized to publicize their plight.
Leader in the campaign, the Ontario Federation of Agriculture, one of the most
active farm organizations in the province, is urging all property-owners to
withhold the education portion of their taxes as a protest against the present
system of education taxation.
The provincial government now pays 51% of the education tax bill.
Property-owners must pay the balance in their municipal taxes.
The President of the farmers’ organization, Gordon Hill, has travelled the
province extensively, speaking at meetings, urging the support of all
property-owners. At a recent meeting at Delhi in Norfolk county, 400
property-owners attended a meeting to hear him speak. There was almost
unanimous support for the stand taken by the OFA.
At another meeting of 300 farmers at Markdale in Grey County, about 75%
indicated they would withhold the education portion of their property taxes.
The withholding program of the OFA
is an effort to hurt local municipalities and school boards, Mr. Hill points
out. It is intended to demonstrate the discontent that exists among
property-owners.
The OFA
set , as its deadline for the
government. It said that if the government hadn’t made any concessions by that
day, then it would urge all property-owners to withhold the education portion
of their taxes.
The government didn’t grant any concessions.
So on , Mr. Hill urged
property-owners to join with him in withholding.
The Ontario Federation of Agriculture believes that the property tax is not a
fair way to finance education. It demands that the provincial government
finance education on an ability-to-pay basis.
A survey conducted by the OFA
in Lennox and Addington county illustrates the reasons for their concern.
The farmers surveyed paid an average of $654, education tax on their property,
while urban residents surveyed paid an average of only $233, [a] doctor paid
$407, a lawyer [paid] $364, and a high school teacher paid $198.
Mr. Hill points out that [the] average income of the urbanites surveyed was
considerably higher than that of the farmers.
Other statistics provided [by] the OFA
show that education taxes on property have climbed at a much higher [rate]
than farmers’ incomes.
