I ADD A FURTHER COMMENT TO MY LAST POST
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As I said: I was born in Newfoundland (NL) in 1930. I was 19--a junior at a university in New Brunswick, when Newfoundland became part of Canada, in 1949.
ABOUT THE TAX SYSTEM
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Personal income tax was abolished, in 1925, by the Liberal-Conservatives. But this does not mean that there were no taxes.
From then until 1934 there was a great deal of economic volatility, confusion and rumours of corruption. And looking back at the way things played out, I am sure there was some. In 1932 there were even two riots in St. John's--one was a food riot--by the needy poor. It stopped when food was handed out. The second riot was over the matter of corruption. No one was killed, but the rioter--over 10,000--did a lot of damage. This led to a radical change in government.
FROM 1934 TO 1949, NL WAS GOVERNED BY AN APPOINTED COMMISSION
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There seven on the Commission. There was a governor plus three others, from Britain. The other three were from NL. By and large, the system worked well. When NL went into union with Canada, there was a surplus of over $40,000,000, not bad for a province with only 225,000 people.
As I recall the system: Merchants, in cahoots with the NL government, under the oversight of the Canadian banks, ran the tax system. This in effect gave the merchants in St. John's--the ones who did all the importing of consumer goods--the right to add on to their costs anything the market allowed. Most of the controlling merchants--hated by the average wage earner and price slave--made fortunes, while many went with the basic needs of life.
WW 2 WAS "GOOD" FOR BUSINESS IN NL
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Beginning in 1940 a modicum of prosperity came to NL as a result of the role it played in helping the Allies win the Battle of the Atlantic in WW 2. The Americans and Canadians build several large bases there. The merchants loved selling all that stuff.
Bell Island, where I was born, was attacked twice, by enemy subs. I witnessed those attacks and saw dead bodies brought ashore from the four iron ore carriers which were sunk.
BTW, as a teenager (born and raised in poverty), because I had a well to do friend who knew people in St.John's, I was able to hobnobb with some wealthy St.John's teenagers when I visited the city. That was between 15-&-16. I found them very open people, not at all snobs. Most told me they were getting ready to take off for university. I credit this experience, among others, with inspiring me to ask myself: Wouldn't it be nice if I could do that? At 17, I made it.
