Concerned Citizens for Fair Taxation

During the last term of city council a group called “Concerned Citizens for Fair Taxation” protested furiously against the municipal government’s decision to use tax incentives in an attempt to stimulate economic growth.

What I’ve been reading in the Telegraph Journal lately about the city’s current spending on Peel Plaza, including a “man on the street” poll today, makes me wonder where those concerned about fair taxes are today.

I don’t think the group should necessarily be resurrected, as I recall they would gather and address city leaders in less than productive ways. 

Instead I want to hear from these concerned citizens that unfair spending on a police station and parking garage is an outrage.  If we shouldn’t give a company a discounted tax rate to stimulate the economy – we shouldn’t let “it will be good for uptown” or “the area needs this development” be defenses for building a boondoggle of a police station on prime real estate that the city should have been more prudent in acquiring in the first place.

The private sector is succeeding in revitalizing the uptown.  We don’t need to spend $28 million on a police station for the city to be a better place.  The current police location could likely be upgraded for an interim period while the city waits to get its finances in order, so that when a police station is built it can be done without raising taxes.

The citizens that the police protect must be considered when we think about spending money on the force’s station; a paternalistic approach from the City where the citizens are told that we “need” to spend this money for our own good is unacceptable.

It’s time for the people of Saint John to demand answers and for us to see a cost-benefit analysis that proves we should proceed with Peel Plaza as proposed, or for the project to be scrapped. 

Anything else is unfair.