As appeared on page D8

To The Editor:

We wish to thank Bill Belliveau for his column of Saturday, April 14 clarifying points he had previously made on the property tax issue.

He showed integrity and insight in his article, which touched on many issues of great concern in our province today, especially the taxation burden on New Brunswickers.

We also shouldn’t take lightly the views of organizations such as the Fraser Institute, the Canadian Federation of Independent Business and the Atlantic Institute for Market Studies, who say emphatically that New Brunswick is heading in the wrong direction with these multiple tax increases.

As we become less competitive, potential investors and our current business leaders will quickly come to the conclusion that New Brunswick is not a place to do business.

The overall tax burden is becoming unsustainable for most average citizens.

The people accept that fair taxation is the basis for all the essential services we in New Brunswick are so fortunate to receive, but “fair” is the optimum word here.

Fairness and reason must be an integral part of the decisions of our governments and, as Mr. Belliveau suggests, “governments are defined by the decisions they make.”

Janet LeBlanc,

Donald LeBlanc,

Boudreau West