TAVERN OF THE SEAS david biggs So who bears the brunt of the price hikes anyway?

WHENEVER they announce increases in municipal rates, water, electricity costs, or a rise in the VAT or fuel price, the caring folk send out a familiar cry: “The poorest of the poor will be hardest hit by this.”

The poorest of the poor are in deep trouble even without increased rates.

But so is everybody.

Bear in mind the poorest of the poor do not pay rates because they don’t own homes, so the rates increase is not of great interest to them.

The poorest also pay no water fees because they have no water in their homes. They don’t pay for electricity, so electricity hikes don’t concern them.

They actually contribute little to the cost of running the city (through no fault of their own). Life gets tougher for them, because everything makes life tougher.

The richest of the rich, on the other hand, are using less and less electricity and water, because they’ve been able to afford solar panels, rainwater tanks, boreholes and filtration systems.

Some boast they are now completely “off the grid”.

The richest of the rich can afford the services of accountants and tax consultants, so they manage to pay little tax after claiming their deductible expenses. They don’t care if you doubled the cost of water as they use their own.

The reality is that the working middle class bear the brunt of these increases.

They are the teachers, nurses, electricians, carpenters, plumbers, shop assistants – all the people we rely on for help when we are in trouble.

They have saved and scrimped to buy their homes and send their kids to schools, they are probably quite deep in debt. They cannot afford boreholes or solar panels or rainwater tanks so they bear the full burden of rates increases, water and electricity tariffs, VAT increases.

These are the solid backbone of society. They pay the bulk of the cost of running the city.

In return they are punished by increasing taxes and rates and levies.

We should remember, however, that these good citizens are the most likely to have “portable” skills.

They are qualified as nurses, mechanics, electricians and plumbers and these are skills in high demand in every country. Squeeze them too hard and they are likely to reach the point when they say, “I can do better in Canada, or Australia, where they pay better and tax less.”

By driving away skilled workers we are making our city a poorer place. We can manage quite well without car guards, councillors and politicians, but take away our plumbers and we’d be deep in the smelly stuff.

LAST LAUGH

It was after midnight and the plumber was roused from a deep sleep by a telephone call. He groped for the phone in the dark and answered it sleepily.

It was his family doctor. “We’ve got a problem with our upstairs toilet,” the doctor said.

“It seems to have developed a funny clanking noise when we flush it.”

“No problem,” said the plumber, still half asleep, “throw in two aspirins and call me if it isn’t better in the morning.”