Monday, April 28, 2008

Property taxes and living wage

How odd that these two things came to Council on the same day. Naheed's been doing some media rounds on this, and should be on QR as well as the Eyeopener on Radio One tomorrow at 8:15 AM.

In short, he's been saying that both debates miss the point a little. On property tax, we should spend a bit less time discussing a tenth of a percent here and there and more time talking about whether the property tax is the right way to fund a city.

Similarly, instead of getting hung up on the concept of the living wage, should we not be thinking about the true goal, which is to make sure that people working for the city and its suppliers are not living in poverty? How does ensuring every part-time lifeguard and day camp assistant is paid $13 per hour accomplish that?

1 comment:

Bob McInnis said...

I,m not sure how worrying that the exception to the rule becomes the rule serves the greater good.I would be more concerned that if we open the door to a lower class citizen making less per hour because of some arbitrary notion, would lead to people with disabilities being paid less, women being paid less, immigrants being paid less. If we concentrate our efforts on the exception we not only open the door to abuse but we miss a bigger goal for a great city.