Canadian Tire dictates tax policy
So now, the government is backing off the eco-tax. I’m guessing they’ll say no more about it until after the next election. If the Liberals win look for eco-taxes to come back and a carbon tax and who knows what else.
Apparently Canadian Tire determined they weren’t going to charge the eco-tax anymore because of all the product confusion, so the McGuinty Liberals cheerfully rescinded the tax so they could think it through this time. Well, with apologies to Ma Gump, ‘Tax policy is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you’ll get.’
As for killing the tax, who knew it was this easy.
If we get enough people to complain the HST is too confusing, what with some items exempted and strange tax on tax situations which have cropped up, apparently the government will simply cave in.
Since when does Canadian Tire dictate government policy?
Oh, I agree that the eco-tax is a logistical nightmare with some items taxed by weight, some by size and some with different amounts of tax applicable at different rates to different parts of the same product. Yet the biggest problem is that the government states these taxes will help divert hazardous wastes from landfill but makes no mention of reimbursing people for their cash when the hazardous material is turned in. Last time I looked collecting a fee upfront in no way guarantees that people will recycle this material properly. Unless Stewardship Ontario is planning to hire a large numbers of garbage sorters their plan seems to have a giant hole in it.
And yet, even if the government has backed off, ostensibly until they can make this tax more logical and understandable, they still haven’t addressed the major issues.
Why are we paying ecotaxes on products that we already pay fees to help recycle? Why are we paying fees on items that we use and there is nothing left to recycle? Why are we expected to fill the coffers of Stewardship Ontario and what are they going to do with all this money? Who sits on this board and now apparently has the power to tax Ontarians?
Answers to those questions would be a great start. Instead we get a government more interested in soothing the ruffled public than in producing a program with a logical aim, a measured approach and an achievable result.
Again Ma Gump sums it up nicely – ‘Stupid is as stupid does.’
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