Brandon Sun - PRINT EDITION
The Brandon Sun’s recent editorial “Public Can Be Its Own Tax Watchdog” contains a number of inaccuracies about a Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF) speech to the Brandon Chamber of Commerce.
Here are a couple clarifications.
First, the CTF is not setting up a “satellite” organization in Brandon as the editorial suggested.
As noted in front of more than 200 people at a recent Brandon Chamber of Commerce speech, and as explained to the Brandon Sun in an interview following the speech, the CTF is hosting an event to see if frustrated Brandon taxpayers want to set up their own municipal watchdog.
Should there be enough interest among Brandon taxpayers to set up a local group, it would be completely independent from the Canadian Taxpayers Federation.
It would not receive funding from the CTF and would not be obliged to pay the CTF a single cent. It would operate like the Ottawa Taxpayers Advocacy Group, the Interested Taxpayers Action Committee of West Vancouver, the St. Albert Taxpayers Association or the Lacombe Taxpayers Association, in that it would determine its own structure, mandate, issues to focus on, etc.
The CTF’s role, beyond paying for a room at the Royal Oak in October for an exploratory public meeting on Oct. 2 at 7 p.m., would be to assist a Brandon taxpayers group (if it wants assistance) with ideas on wasteful expenditures to look out for, provide advice on how to obtain information from city hall and tips on writing news releases.
The reason we assist local ratepayers with establishing their own groups is the fact there are thousands of municipalities in Canada and as a non-profit group with limited resources, we can’t possibly watchdog each and every one out there.
The speech that announced the upcoming exploratory meeting in Brandon was entirely focused on the need for taxpayers to keep an eye on governments at all levels, and all political parties.
Hopefully, a Brandon taxpayers group could get more citizens engaged in watchdogging city hall and prevent council from repeating what it did last year — proposing a 15.6 per cent property tax increase.
Colin Craig
Canadian Taxpayers Federation
Republished from the Brandon Sun print edition September 19, 2012
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The Brandon Sun’s recent editorial “Public Can Be Its Own Tax Watchdog” contains a number of inaccuracies about a Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF) speech to the Brandon Chamber of Commerce.
Here are a couple clarifications.
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The Brandon Sun’s recent editorial “Public Can Be Its Own Tax Watchdog” contains a number of inaccuracies about a Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF) speech to the Brandon Chamber of Commerce.
Here are a couple clarifications.
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