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Hi You Guys.
It's nice to see(hear) someone else is out there.
ha.
You keep getting mail returned to you. It MAY be the
fact that many of your contacts are away on vacation etc. and the computer at
your internet service provider is "full" and it does not forward your
messages. I've received some back myself with an explanation saying that
the person's computer is "over its limit " on mail storage capacity. Just
a thought, and it's good to hear from someone. ha. It's been awfully quiet since
the get together. ha. Donnie.
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Sunday, August 18, 2002 10:20
PM
Subject: Re: Taxation
Hi folks. Is anyone else having trouble getting emails. We
keep getting them returned by mail administrator? Our computer was shut down
for a couple of days and problem has arisen since we turned it back on.
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Sunday, August 18, 2002 9:59
AM
Subject: Taxation
For anyone who missed the Dunford column this
morning, I thought it was a pretty accurate take on the ridiculous state of
over-taxation in this country. No wonder there is a huge underground "cash"
economy.
Nibbled to death
Taxation, double taxation, triple taxation: It's all part of living
and buying in Canada
By GARY
DUNFORD -- Toronto Sun
SUMMER
SNOOZE: Good morning, sheep. Sorry to interrupt your reading about dear dead
Elvis, Vin Diesel's fake tattoos and whether or not Jean Chretien can still
make a fist.
Rise and shine, pop the pills you bought at the drug
store, shave with the new razor, shower with new shampoo, and--tho the bill
was $107.37--you paid $122.36. GST $7.42, PST $7.47.
Pour some
juice, eat a doughnut --but why did you buy detergent, paper towels and a
sponge at the grocery? The bill would have been $26.40. You paid $32.95.
On the way to work, gas up the car. For about $10 of gas, you're
invited to pay $16.80. More than 40% of the gas cost is taxes.
Running late? Use the cross-town tollway you paid taxes to build but
pay for again each time you dare go on it. For a ride of 10 minutes you'll
pay $3.49. Plus a non-transponder charge of $5.30. Plus an account fee of $2
to receive the bill. Plus $.14 in GST. Your 10 minute ride will cost you
$10.93, more than a buck a minute. Oh well.
Look! The new hydro bill
has arrived. Electricity, plus so much more!
You're dinged $121.18
for electricity, an additional $21.70 basic service charge, $28.78 as a
volume charge, $39.32 Hydro One claims they paid to get the electricity,
$15.75 to "retire" the $38-billion debt run up in the 50 years hydro was
were so badly mismanaged nobody even wants to talk about it, $15.87 for GST.
You use $121.18 in electricity, you pay an astonishing $242.60. Everybody
say "bargoon."
Tax on tax
Note you pay GST on the
debt retirement charge tho it is neither "goods" nor a "service." Hydro and
the tax dipsticks thought that would be an excellent idea. You pay tax on
top of tax at the gas pump, right? They knew you wouldn't mind doing it
again. Double taxation, triple taxation, full speed ahead.
The phone
bill's here--$22.15 for service, but you'll pay $25.48. Tax.
That
$17.99 bath mat you need will cost $20.69. Tax.
Death by a thousand
cuts. You're nibbled to death by rabbits.
You pay property taxes,
income taxes and -- if you're lucky enough to be self-employed -- you'll get
to prepay your income tax and GST taxes quarterly, plus annually. Four times
a year for the GST, plus an annual summary. Four times a year for the income
tax, plus the annual filing. Ten tax filings a year! All the bilingual forms
go to--here's a happy coincidence! -- Shawinigan.
There are
invoices, papers, deadlines, notices, tax advisories and departmental
newsletters for all this multiple money-shuffling. If your plumber or cabby
seems a bit harried, perhaps he has writer's cramp.
Many
municipalities charge a buck for each bag of garbage. Is there LESS garbage
in a community that levies a surcharge? Or just more soiled diapers,
household crap tossed in parks, sideroads and alleys? If your property tax
is not for the garbage and a snowplow, what the hell is it for?
There's not enough money to fund healthcare. Or schools. Or replace
aging streets or sewers. We can't afford an army. We are the proud owners of
four submarines that can't leave the dock. What do they do with all our
money? We don't know. We don't care. We be total dim-wits.
A whack
of our tax hit goes to retire the national debt. The debt is paid down more
slowly than any bank would allow a taxpayer. The debt was run up by elves
and fairies, for surely voters would not send politicians to Ottawa who do
not realize they should spend less than we make. Would we?
Jumbo-sized legislature
Tho a tenth the size, Canada
has a Parliament that is larger than the U.S. Congress. Each province has
its own jumbo-sized legislature, with attendant civil service army. There is
loot to fund ridiculous academic research, cover the outrages uncovered in
each year's Auditor General's Report.
Will our masters really build
another Trans-Canada Highway beside the patched-up, pot-holed strip that's
already there? Give everybody who can hump two years off to babysit? Pay
more bagmen to sit in the Senate?
Over-taxed, over-governed,
over-regulated, they take our money and run.
We are way too
accustomed to walking with multiple tax hands in our pockets. Not a single
party or politician has ever seriously lifted a finger in the name of tax
reform. That too is okay with us. Wouldn't you think at least a few rebel
souls would cry " Enough?" We are complete idiots.
Go back to sleep,
sheep. Sorry to have bothered you. Have a nice snooze. Exciting Liberal
leadership race, eh? Too bad about Elvis. Zzzzzz.
---
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