Regina: The day before a meeting of the three Prairie Premiers in Regina, the Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF) has slammed the federal and provincial governments for failing to defend farmers and address the fundamental problems facing the farming community.

"Canada's legislators have a lot to answer for. Ultimately, the end to the farm income problems in Canada depends on an end to the subsidy war between the Subsidy Superpowers - the U.S. and Europe. But Canada's federal and provincial governments could make life on the farm a lot easier if they would fix some of the problems created in our own legislatures," stated CTF Saskatchewan Director Richard Truscott.

"Canada's federal and provincial governments have failed to create a set of farm safety net programs that support and defend Canadian farmers while minimizing the impact on taxpayers", says Truscott. "The feds are also guilty of failing to be aggressive enough at the international trade table and demanding significant reductions in international agricultural subsidies."

"For its part, the Saskatchewan government has allowed a bumper crop of school taxes to grow right under farmers noses, despite the fact many farmers are struggling to generate income," continued Truscott. According to information recently obtained by the CTF from the Department of Municipal Affairs through Freedom of Information, there was a huge increase in municipal and school tax revenues over the past four years right across the province. In 2001 alone:

total property taxes (municipal tax and school tax) for rural municipalities rose 9.5%;

total property taxes (municipal tax and school tax) on agricultural land grew by 10.3%; and

school taxes on agricultural land jumped by 15% (or by more than $20 million)

"Property and school taxes on rural areas and farm land are rising fast, but taxpayers' incomes are not," says Truscott. "Taxpayers in rural areas and on the farm, the same people who are least able to pay higher taxes because of the depressed rural economy, are seeing by far the largest hikes in their property tax bill."

"Farmers have been hit by a double whammy. They've lost the farm education tax rebate program, and they've seen mill rates continue to rise thanks to the off-loading by the provincial government onto local governments and school boards," adds Truscott.

Over the past two years, the CTF has presented two petitions with a total of 22,500 taxpayers' names to Premier Calvert, demanding a meaningful decrease in school taxes. Property taxes fund 59% of education costs in Saskatchewan, compared to the average of 26% for all provinces.