As Goodfellas at Winnipeg City Council prepare to vote on phasing out their business tax, they may find illuminating tax reform success stories in places like Brandon.

Once upon a time, business owners in most Canadian cities were strong-armed into paying a protection fee to the local syndicate - a.k.a civic government. Thinking they were cute, the syndicate-families dubbed the fee a "business tax." It was like this, "ya keep ya nose clean and pays ya dues and nobody gets hurt."

"If that don't learn 'em, we'll call up one of our local wise guys to pay them a visit." Needless to say, some business got whacked, and whacked good; not only from non-compliance but also from the crippling cost of the business tax itself.

The system worked when the country was divided up by equally powerful dons who ruled with virtual impunity in their own spheres of influence. The families of the major cities held to a truce so that they could pursue their rackets on their own turf.

Prize grants and tax breaks were sometimes awarded to certain business cartels. But for one biz to score favours, other businesses had to ante up.

No strangers to the protection racket, the labour capos and their wannabes were keen on maintaining the business tax. Many of their dues-paying members collected a paycheck from the local don, so it was best to preserve the cash flow.

With the dawn of the information age, the hapless business owners started to wise up and realise that they could buy cheaper protection from some other don out west. Mobility of labour and capital made the business relocation possible.

The west-side mobs found themselves besieged by new clients from across the country applying for protection on the cheaper turf. Brandon, Regina and Saskatoon got in on the action by axing their business taxes and it looks as though Calgary is soon to cut bait as well.

The business start-ups in the west opened up a new stream of currency in the form of the commercial property tax. Without even charging a business tax, the Vancouver mob drummed up 61% of its total revenue in commercial property taxes compared to only 27% in Winnipeg. The west-side mobs were gaining in wealth and power without having to radically ratchet up residential property taxes.

Meanwhile, the Winnipeg syndicate continued to plunder its ever-shrinking client base. Over the past 10-years they sat idly by as 1,300 net businesses disappeared off the city map.

Goodfellas in Winnipeg got cross and started a war of words with their counterparts in places like Calgary, Vancouver and Toronto. They took out ads ripping apart the other towns and white washing the state of affairs at home.

As expected, the ad blitz backfired like a rusty Tommy gun. Locals were reminded of their own high business tax and leaned on the syndicate to phase it out. Otherwise, the stream of business refugees to the west or even to the south-side mob would worsen.

The moral of the story is that to become a successful don, you need to surround yourself with an army of businesses that don't mind so much the low protection fee so long as they're making money hand over fist.

That's the kind of entrepreneurial spirit that got the Brandon and Winnipeg families started in the first place. It's the spark of hope that should inspire the dons at Winnipeg's City Council to deep six the business tax as well.