The Editor,
Re. “Federal tax change leads to a likely hike in council costs” (front page, The Tri-City News, March 9).
New federal tax changes to the Municipal Officers’ Allowance will mean that Port Coquitlam’s mayor and council (along with other councillors, school trustees and MLAs) will no longer receive a third of their salaries tax free. The rationale for these changes can be found on page 208 of the federal budget, which reads: “In today’s workforce, many Canadians receive benefits such as a daily food allowance or transit fare, which are counted as taxable income. Yet certain tax measures allow some individuals to pay less than their fair share of taxes on such benefits… Budget 2017 proposes to:
Remove the tax exemptions for non accountable advances paid to… certain municipal office-holders. This exemption… provides an advantage that other Canadians do not enjoy.”
Seems fair as nobody else gets a third of their salary tax free and the mayor and council members have all got expense accounts against which they can claim out-of-pocket expenses.
But it’s not fair to Coun. Dean Washington, who declared that the federal government needs more money to pay for stuff and that him having to pay more income tax is just another form of downloading on municipal taxpayers. And Coun. Glenn Pollock said: “We need to keep our take-home pay the same” while Coun. Laura Dupont says it’s unfair and the soon-to-be-ex-Mayor Greg Moore says it’s a pay cut.
Poor devils, having to live like the rest of us.
They will all be OK, though, because they are about to vote the next council a pay increase to cover the additional income tax. They will not have to pay it — we will.
Peter Manning,
Port Coquitlam
