Seniors could lose homes to taxes.

 

Seniors could lose homes to taxes.

When we, the elders, built this province, we could afford to pay more for everything. Now many of us are existing on savings, fixed pensions, and sometimes foodbank donations. Many of us moved to little towns since houses were cheaper. A few lucky seniors have company pensions that they paid for, but most don’t. Poor seniors are the people whose homes need work that they can’t afford. If we risk our fragile lives to do repairs and improvements ourselves, the tax assessor never misses it.

We are the people who can’t afford to fight. Being old and on fixed pensions, we can’t hire lawyers to fight the Province or even Town Hall. What we do will deplete our savings. A few saved enough for occasional trips or a newer vehicle every few years, but we must have enough not to land on Social Assistance at the most vulnerable time of our lives. Our pensions and savings are taxed or depleted with inflation.

The situation is dynamic and always changes. When I was little, there were little towns and communities all over the country. Now the towns are dying since a few mega-farms took over, mines became mechanized, and all who served the communities moved away. Those who remained are slowly being pushed out by making do with fewer services and increased taxes.

Taxes may be the same, but rural communities must pay more for policing the highways, attracting doctors, and providing education for the young. If and when “our resources” like oil, fetch better prices, we are told to be proud of the government that balanced the budget.

I am not impressed, to say the least. I am a senior living on a fixed pension that I paid for over many years. When the Province downloads tax burden on the town, I am forced to make up the difference and pay higher taxes on my home. In my case, I have a company pension, but most of my senior friends live hand to mouth in their little homes. They pay from their food budget or their modest, minimal existence.

Two years ago, the province reduced taxes from 12% to 8% to “stimulate the economy”. My taxes stayed the same and the increase in oil revenues, not related to action by the Province, improved nothing in my life. Actually, I pay 50% more for energy. The lives of seniors like me became much harder when we can hardly do anything about what is done to us. A solution presented itself. We can remove medical mandates and see how many seniors will get infected by the ongoing pandemic, die, and quit ranting. That was the choice picked by my elected leaders. Apparently, we don’t need a war to hurt people and remove their homes from their possession. It could be done with political decisions.

Ironically, the latest events also showed a solution. If the government doesn’t listen to us, we can veer off from being the agreeable folks we always were, and blockade some roads. It worked well in Coutts. In Ottawa, a few members of parliament openly supported blocking streets and there are pictures to prove it. I do not recommend or support public disobedience, but I can imagine possibilities.

There is a narrow section of highway in our municipality where a check stop can stop traffic to give travelers information. Using an old practice from medieval Europe, citizens could ask the motorists to contribute to a fund to maintain police and safety services on the highway, (for their own good). We could explain that in the Pass where the average income is less than $52,000 a year, minus taxes, seniors can’t afford to take over provincial responsibilities such as policing. After all, we had nothing to do with negotiating EMS or RCMP contracts and we believe that both do an excellent job but we can’t take on the costs.

I will be the first to recommend fair pay for hard-working people who must have extensive training for the jobs they do. I also think that a move like this would receive attention from the media, and convince the powers to be to share a little of the bounty from oil and gas, our resources, with those who may lose their homes and freedom because of rising prices. We have done our share and shouldn’t be picked on when we are most vulnerable. Also, with the government measures to protect us from COVID removed, we can’t look for part-time jobs to increase our income during our golden years.

All the people who are reading this page are older or will get older. In the future, there may be fewer seniors, now when society chose “assumed freedom” ahead of life.

I can’t help it. When the majority of my municipal representatives choose to force me to give my money to a rich provincial government and call it “fiscally responsible” I get irritated and consider other solutions. If I lose my home to the taxman, will the heroes of a balanced budget save me?

We built our entire economy on credit and debt financing expenditure and growth. People take a mortgage and get a house. Why do I and seniors like me have to pay for services that are traditionally paid for by the province?

If the province wants efficiencies, let them find it without indirectly taxing me and face the music on election day. Don’t shove your responsibilities onto suffering rural communities. That is not being fiscally responsible, it’s robbing the poor to pay the rich. 12% tax would have easily paid for our policing and emergency services.

I always look for peaceful ways but sometimes we need to turn over the money changers’ tables. Our representatives should be fiscally responsible to us, not to a provincial political party far removed from our concerns.

Here is a link to my blog: https://thesimpleravenspost.blogspot.ca/  Feel free to check other articles and comment.