Tag Archives: tax

Down with the billboards and up with the public art!

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The arts are an unquestionably important piece of our social fabric, providing depth, context and a sense of vibrancy to the world we live in. While nobody would deny this fact, what does often come into question is who should be funding the arts, and how much. In British Columbia, provincial funding mostly comes through the B.C. Arts Council. In addition to the funds received, this relationship often allows B.C. arts organizations to leverage additional funding from other foundations and governments. This past year, B.C. was the only Canadian Province to cut arts funding, in response to the economic downturn. According to the Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture Service Plan, provincial arts funding is scheduled to fall by more that a whopping 88% over two years, from $19.5 million in 2008-09 to just $2.25 million in 2010-11.

Down with the billboards ...

Down with the billboards ...

While these facts and figures paint a dour picture (pun sadly intended) for local artists and art organizations, the reality of the situation is that money funding art is money taken away from other important domains, such as  health care, transportation, and housing, and is bound to offend some voters.

So what can be done to supplement ailing arts funding while not demanding critically needed funds be taken away from other sectors?

Our dear friends in Toronto (whom I know we all love/love to hate) have just implemented a wonderfully innovative, collaborative, and popular solution: taxation. Yes, you read me right, I have just used the words “popular” and “taxation” in the same sentence. Toronto has just passed a reform package that will see a tax on billboards, with tax dollars being used to enforce the bylaws governing signs and to fund public art. Not only will this help to ensure eye-sore billboards will be kept to a minimum, but will also give the opportunity for public art to take its rightful place in the cityscape. The reform package includes changes to the zoning variance process that will make approving new signs more difficult, and fines for violating bylaws. The tax will generate an estimated $10.4 million each year. According to a local activist who was involved in the process, the victory was a result of activists and industry collaborating from a very early stage. 

... and up with Public Art!

... and up with Public Art!

Vancouver, as a city who proclaims to be progressive, innovative, sustainable, and culture-friendly, we need to be thinking of and implementing innovative solutions like this. The Vancouver Public Space Network estimates that half of Vancouver’s billboards are not compliant with the city’s most recent bylaws … which could translate into much needed dollars for public art. Really, with public support, aesthetic imperative, precedent, and a very real need on our side, how could we not?

You Get What You Pay For

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A burden we all need to carry.

A burden we all need to carry.

Right now there is an uproar over the provincial government’s plan to introduce HST. The plan is to harmonize provincial sales tax with GST bringing PST into a whole bunch of industries (restaurants, grocery stores among others) which had up to this point avoided them.

Business points to this new tax and scream about layoffs and jacked up consumer prices.

The NDP is rallying signatures. Editorials are lamblasting the Premier. People are griping to each other about how a) stupid and b) unfair the whole tax is.

What gets me about all of this is the seeming disconnect people have about why the HST is being introduced int he first place.

Taxes, as any political strategist (or person on the street for that matter) can tell you, aren’t popular. Why do governments bring them in? Because they can’t afford to supply the existing level of services (read education, health care, transportation infrastructure, etc) without a larger source of revenue.

Right now, BC, like the rest of the world, is in the midst of a recession. Profits are down, people are making less money and spending less of it. That means all sorts of traditional government taxes aren’t generating income like they used to. Yet at the same time, there aren’t fewer people going to the doctor (like is probably the case in the US’s privatized system) nor fewer people riding transit or going to school.

Canada and British Columbia have a terrific education system, and despite a lot of griping about hospital lines and other medical headaches, one of the best health care systems in the world. I don’t know about you, but I want to keep it that way and (ideally) continue to improve it. You don’t do that with less money – you do it with more money.

So when the provincial government looks at the balance sheet at the end of the fiscal year, they’re in an unpleasant conundrum: Keep services the same and yet somehow do so with withering profits. How can they do this? This simple answer is they can’t – at least not without figuring out a new revenue source.

Enter the HST.

While unpleasant, this new tax will go a long way to adding billions of dollars to the budget. In the end that will mean fewer cuts to the core services we all value. And that’s a good thing.