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Canada, on the other hand, has groups of oonc?lr:det'ls cfinlfill:; watching municipalities and demanding W“‘{,‘}’m turade is which translates into smaller tax increases. i ppvernments: spreading and affecting provincial and federal Eow 3 Costs are being controlled, but we have a long way (ug .t we - i act, There‘s a lot of unrest in this country right now. In fact, mustelr;ok like a Northern Banana Republic with mq)tol's se;\gf:; on strike and others protesting. But if SO_V?me‘; hge fully gets under control, our taxes will stop rising ani pe! d , f y s e;r;: ?? American taxes start increasing, we MIghtt)eHO‘ 1‘;"‘; :g bad. Maybe Americans will start moving here. Maybe my will move back. Canada, on the other hand, was spending. And there is only one way to fund spending â€" increase taxes. Federal spending in Canada increased from 18 per cent of GNP in the early ‘70s to 24 per cent by the midâ€"‘80s. A lot of this spending was funded by debt at high interest rates, resulting in more taxes. And that‘s how we got where we are today â€" highly taxed. But don‘t be too quick to run off to the U.S. Things are changing. South of the border, state taxes and user fees are rising. It is also becoming evident that the U.S. will adopt a form of socialized medicine and you know what that means â€" higher taxes We can‘t compete because our labor content is more expensive due to taxes and our social welfare system. So we do cross border shopping and the lucky ones get green cards and leave for greener pastures. But what‘s the story behind the taxes? Let‘s look at the U.S. Throughout the 1980s taxes stayed at about 29 per cent of GDP. How? Well, the U.S. is the home of the tax revolt â€"â€" remember the original tea party in Boston? During the late 1970s Proposition 13 in California limited property taxes. This scared politicians who don‘t like to lose their job, as a result the trend of limiting taxes continued through the 1980s. Basically, there were no tax increases at the municipal, state and federal level. In fact, on the federal level, social programs were drastically reduced throughout the 1980s to cut government spending. _ e «B w B lom\, :/:’(% ““ ~ 0 ‘Q Ceda q\\ L Q‘ Sim\w"“\ S‘\S %\ ‘)‘ _Now that we have defined our method of comparison, let‘s see how some countries stack up. These statistics are compliments of the Organization for Economic Coâ€"operation and Developâ€" ment (OECD) and are only available until 1988. It takes a long time to collect statistics. * U.S. taxes are 29 per cent of GDP * Japanese taxes â€" 31 per cent * Canadian taxes â€" 34 per cent * United Kingdom and Germany â€" 37 per cent * Sweden‘s taxes â€" 41 per cent Well, that confirms we pay more taxes than the U.S., but we already knew that. After all, that‘s the excuse we use to explain Canada. Higher taxes means higher wages. Recently I lost a friend. She moved to the States. It seemed like a logical move. We have all heard the stories â€" less taxes, lower labor costs less expensive housing and better consumer prices. ‘ But honestly, it all boils down to taxes. Canadians pay too much and our American neighbors have their act together with lower taxes. So what‘s the story behind our Canadian taxes? Well, they are high. But, to get a better feel for Canadian taxes you have to compare Canadian taxes to those of other countries. You need some equal basis to compare taxes. The commonly accepted method is to take the total tax burden (a very suitable word) and compare it to the gross domestic product (GDP). GDP represents the value of goods and services produced within our country. A taxing situation Pattie Moran is a corporate banker living in Waterloo DOLLARS AND SENSE en .@C". _ â€"goPyee$so t atass S g" * V «g Members of the interim board will include Jim Harper (Chairman of the Board), members of the joint task force who prepared the proposal (Eugene Moser, Owen Lackenbauer, Ron Carther, Jim Beingessner, Alan Chalmers and Charles Greb), as well as Ed Arbuckle, Barry Burnstein, Terry Flynn, William Gladwish, Don Livingston, Dick Meunier, ‘"The concept of the career fair is to provide all levels of students with a forum to discuss job prospects with employers in an informal, relaxed atmosphere," said Carol Ann Olheiser, of UW‘s coâ€" operative education and career services departâ€" ment. Both boards of the Kitchener and Waterloo‘s Chamber of Commerce have recently selected representatives to sit on the Interim Board of Directors of the New Entity which will be operationâ€" al by July 1, 1992. Students at the University of Waterloo can catch a glimpse the working world at a career fair to be held Oct. 2 at the Physical Activities Complex on campus. _ â€" ul . At least 80 employers from business, industry and government are expected to set up booths at the annual event. Students from all class years can attend to learn about potential career paths. Career fair opens doors to students Interim Board of Directors selected Lawn Alternatives The decision to replace grass with shrubs, thyme, cotoneaster, periwinkle and barrenwort, just to name a few, is a big one, but Powell believes that once a lawn, or even part of a property is changed over, the owners will be more than pleased. And, after countless summers of watering bans, droughts and brown lawns, homeowners now have the winter to think about converting their lawns to Powâ€" ell‘s Lawn Alternatives. Aileen Powell admits that in the radical 60s she was a conformâ€" ist. Today, in the age of conformiâ€" ty, she feels she‘s a bit of a radical. A radical in the sense that she‘s an activist in the environmental movement, and instead of just saying ‘"no" to pesticides and chemical lawn spraying, she has put her talents as an artist and environmentalist to good use by opening her business called Lawn Alternatives. Environmental solutions to the brown, brown grass of summer Pete Cudhea Chronicle Staff Powell realizes that not everyâ€" body has the same philosophy about lawns as she does and she doesn‘t believe she‘ll convert the world to her way of thinking, but once she gets her hands on a person‘s lawn, there is very little maintenance for the property owner afterwards. ‘"People are afraid to be diffeâ€" rent. Those who aren‘t afraid are the one‘s I‘m doing business with," Powell said from her Norâ€" man Street home. ) Bié D® g3° "Who likes looking at a brown lawn all summer when they can look at something that stays green all the time. A lot of people want it, but they don‘t know where to start, and this is where I come in. ‘You can get rid of a little part of your lawn each year. If the prospect of having no lawn is a scary one, you can do it gradually, dig it up bit by bit, put on your "I can visualize what their property is going to look like when I‘m finished with it." Powâ€" ell, an artist, works with Joldine Lee, an architect, who designs the landscaping of the property from the information given to her by Powell. 8 WATERLOO CHRONICLE, WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 25, 1991 â€" PAGE 25 Aileen Powell House « Cedar 210 Regina St. N., Waterioo 885â€"1711 y _The Area‘s Cedar SuperStore 6 Grades Cedar The excess of expenditures over revenues was $95,370, which represents 0.18 per cent of total expenditures. The information is contained in the Audited Financial Statements presented to the university‘s board of governors at its regular meeting on Sept Laurier ends year with $29,204 net decease in operating fund balance Wilfrid Laurier Univesity has reported a decrease of $29,204 in its general operating fund balance for the fiscal year ended April 30, 1991. This represents about 0.05 per cent of the general operating fund‘s expenditures of $53,263,890. Ab Nightingale, Linda Padfield, Neil Richardson, Kathi Smith, Frank Varga, Dale Wilcox and Don Wilcox. Under the guidance of this board, planning and inplementation of a single association representing business needs in the Kitchenerâ€"Waterloo communiâ€" ties will be formed. Present memberships of the chambers will be kept appraised of activities and programs via their respective board communica tions. Until the association is operational each chamber will continue to operate in a "businessâ€"asâ€"usual" manner. 17. compost and plant. Once you make that decision, you can just leave your lawn alone and not do anything, unless you want to keep a little part of it." ‘"People are still walking by that property and calling me and asking me to go and look at their property." One of Powell‘s first projects was 105 Allen Street in Waterloo, where she did the front yard of the property. She admitted that the interest by passersby was "fantastic‘. Powell admitted she has always wanted to do something in the environmental field which would help get rid of pesticides Of British decent, her family has been heavily involved in gardenâ€" ing and has tackled the problem of weeding in a more conservative and enviromentally safe manner It‘s no secret that she and chemi cal spraying companies don‘t see eye to eye, and that she has encouraged her neighbors to stop spraying chemicals Many of the people who are interested in her business either share her point of view, are elderly or are fed up with all the mess and fuss of weeeding, mowâ€" ing, watering, fertilizing and evâ€" erything else that goes along with taking care of a lawn which has no guarantee of staying green. "Like I said, once people have called me, they‘ve made a deciâ€" sion that they want something done. It‘s a big step, but I think in the long run they‘ll be happy with the end result." Chronicle SOMETHING FOR EVERYONE!