Dear Editor:
As taxpayers grapple with sometimes-difficult-to-decipher annual accounts about budgets for our Wellington municipalities, it’s important for them to keep the big picture in mind and remember the Rule of 72.
This rule states that if you divide the annual percentage tax bill increase into 72 you get the number of years it will take your tax bill to double. The projected 4.2% increase in the county tax levy reported on page one of the Jan. 10 Advertiser sounds innocent enough until you apply the rule.
At that rate it will take 17 years (72/4.2) for your tax bill to double. Now if your pay cheque or your pension doubles every 17 years you’ll basically be okay. What if it doesn’t?
The average pay increase for non-unionized employees in Canada in 2017 was 2.2%. At that rate it will take more than 32 years for these families to double their income.
Something to think about when you learn salaries and wages are swiftly increasing and currently represent one-third of the municipal budget.
It’s not that anyone wants to get into a debate about the fairness of municipal and public sector salaries, or what, if anything, taxpayers might be able to do about this – although that would be an interesting debate (but one not directly related to the matter at hand).
For now we can set aside the moral debate, because for most families it’s a simple mathematical question: What will you cut out of your family’s budget to pay for an expense that’s growing much faster than your capacity to pay for it?
Terence Rothwell,
Wellington North