How did democratic Canada arrive in a state where government manipulates “free” enterprise to change a Canadian’s lifestyle? Who invited the government to do this and why do they think it is their responsibility to govern my free-from-criminal-activity lifestyle? We fought for freedoms that are being systematically and cleverly reduced. That very same freedom is taxed as “luxury” for participating Canadians. All in the name of… what, exactly? It may only be a dollar increase here and there (never ever to be reduced) but it’s my dollar, my choice, my happiness, my life and my country! I really don’t understand why government should interfere with any of it. Government is supposed to work for me, the voting citizen!
I’m talking about a sanctioned hike for electricity. You’ll charge me more thinking I’ll use less. What kind of Hitler driven strategy is that? A most effective one, of course but you must think I’m made of money only because I’m “privileged” enough to pay for an essential service. Trust me on this; I nearly throw up when I see your rates even when they’re not going up (but they always do). Now some new dollar charge to, yes, stick it to the asshole Canadian sucker enough to use electricity.
I’m talking about an unbelievable hike in cigarette taxes that will no doubt fuel the fire for illegal tobacco and greater need for police force funding (hit the tax payer again… down the road). Who are you to call my freedom of choice a luxury? If I enjoyed smoking oregano would oregano then be privied to this “luxury” tax too?. I’m so fucking mad.
I’m talking about five cent (plus tax) plastic bags at the grocery store. I’m talking about private companies investing in alternative energy before our own government does! I’m talking about the hording of technology! I’m talking about needing a permit for anything and everything! I’m talking about government even whispering about who I can marry and who I cannot. We needed government for this?…. I’m talking about the slow formation of a serious dictatorship that has something to say about every little thing a Canadian could want for and fuck, am I pissed.
—Another TaxPayer too broke to buy Canadian freedom
This article appears in Jun 18-24, 2009.
Amen. Unfortunately it will only get worse. Halifax Tea (Tobacco, Liqour, and Plastic Bag) Party is a-comin.
I couldn’t care less about the tobacco taxes. If you’re dumb enough to begin smoking in the first place, that’s your fucking problem. It’s restitution for us non-smoking taxpayers having to chip in for your lung cancer treatment.
Price hikes in NECESSITIES like electricity, food, transportation – those are unfair. Price hikes in cigarettes? Too fucking bad. Either quit, or stop your bitching.
thebeardedonion, you are actually wrong on this one. the OP smoker will actually cost society less then a non smoker because they die earlier and faster. this planet is rapidly becoming overpopulated, unsustainable and with this generations technological advances there will be far fewer jobs to go around very soon. I say if you are stupid enough to smoke then I’m all for the voluntary contributions to tax revenue and the commitment to killing yourself so someone else can have your job.
I also completely agree with the OP that the average person is very blind to the fact that our personal rights and freedoms are rapidly being taken away under the guise of police protection and we are taxed up the ass more and more in the name of environmentalism.
Please. Your rights and freedoms are being violated? Which rights? Which freedoms?
So, OP, you say that the government works for you, the voting citizen. You are right; however, it would seem that there are a number of others that think differently than you, because all of these “sin” taxes were enacted by someone other than you voted for (or so it would seem, given the tone of your writing) and these folks were elected democratically, thereby lending nothing to your argument. Democracy works, it’s just that sometimes you don’t get your own way. To the point of taxes, and more importantly, to what Walt has said, taxes need to be collected so that our society can function. Health care doesn’t come cheap given that a new MRI machine can cost millions of dollars, and hundreds of thousands to run. If you want something like free health care, we need to be taxed to the hilt sadly. More to the point of electricity, yes, any increase is unfortunate and questionable. Such is the problem of a semi-private company running the show. They have a legislated monopoly. Until that changes, we’ll continue to suffer that cruel fate.
I just look at it this way – about 30 percent of Nova Scotians over the age of 15 smoke. That’s a lot of voters. So the NDP pretty much had only one shot at pulling something like this…right after an election. I doubt they’ll try it a month *before* an election.
In any case, now that they used up this freebie, they can set their sights on wider ranging punitive taxes. Not that I’m against any of this – I’m a smoker and I’m not particularly upset about the tobacco tax increase. I can do a bunch of things – cut back some so I don’t spend more than now, do as TBO suggested and quit entirely (thereby depriving him of some of the revenue he’ll need for his healthcare when he’s 85 and bedridden), or look up my local Indian smokes dealer. No problemo.
I voted NDP, and I sort of expected stuff like this. Anyway, I made my little sacrifice – let’s wait and see what everyone else’s are.
Actually it was a Rod the God thing. But I never met an NDipper who didn’t like more taxes. I think we just passed tax-free day. Yup folks we work about half a year just to pay our taxes. Nope, government doesn’t work for us, we work for them.
I wrote this bitch and I’ll assure you it has less to do with the results of our recent election and more to do with realizing we don’t need/want government involved in all aspects of living… yet it is and here you bitches support it! Do you feel good knowing the government exercises such control over yours or your neighbor’s pursuit of happiness? (Miles, it’s those rights and freedoms we’re talking about)
“Either quit, or stop your bitching”… you don’t think there’s something wrong with such a statement? Communist much? Do we say that to the obese as well? I fail to see much of a difference between obesity as a result of food addiction and smoking as a result of nicotine addiction but it would be “unethical” for our government to capitalize on food. Why should you or the government capitalize on any Canadian lifestyle? Where are the ethics in that? That’s what free enterprise and retailers are all about. Why should it also be what government is all about?
“look up my local Indian smokes dealer. No problemo.” Sorry, I think this is a symptom of a much bigger problem… too much government and not enough illegal tobacco resources.
There’s absolutely nothing communist about taxes kay, especially things like sin taxes. To prove my point, Nazi Germany had extremely high sin taxes on things like cigarettes and alcohol. As we all know, they were a fascist government, and that is the on the other side of the political spectrum. As far as your statement of “we don’t need/want government involved in all aspects of living”, as far as the voting public is concerned, they do; as we voted in a government that typically is more involved in the day to day affairs of regular citizens. Just because you don’t agree with it, doesn’t mean that everyone else doesn’t.
Why do other people (especially our government) care about what my pursuits are and why should they get some reward for said interest? We are taught the role of democratic government is to tend to the greater needs of the greater population. I think the role of Canadian government has become warped and twisted that one could even call it a doctrine of religion, “thou shall not smoke, drink, drive a car, park it, think to get married, throw a party and make an attempt to recoup liquor costs, lose their SIN card or birth certificate, etc… lest ye desires ongoing damnation at the hands of the Evil Empire”
I feel government limits my opportunities by having a financially vested interest in personal pursuits. Isn’t it enough that in working, providing employment, or selling we pay, collect and remit a tax? Isn’t it enough that we pay another tax on everything we buy? Who is your government and who is your neighbor, really, to presume they should have financial vested interest in the things that make the individual happy, healthy, unhappy, unhealthy, whatever? Right now I’m an unhappy Canadian because the government has interfered with my non-criminal pursuits like having a vehicle (we already paid an environmental tax, sales tax, recycling fee, it’s a taxable asset) but government “penalizes” such a “luxury” by forcing an annual registration.
How can these charges/taxes/disincentives/pursuit killers be okay with any majority that cares about their own personal potential?
Kay, they force an annual registration so that they know who the cars on the road are registered to. While there are a multitude of very good reasons for there being a place for that information one major one is to aid when there’s a crime committed with a car. What better way to find someone then through the license plate? If they didn’t make it mandatory people wouldn’t do it. plain and simple. Yet when there’s a crime committed we’re the first ones demanding things from our government. Is it that much of a hardship for you to be a part of a functioning society??
Oh, and the pursuit of happiness is an American concept, and while I don’t really see any conflict between getting a permit and the pursuit of happiness (permits make sure the building you’re standing it will stay standing) I wouldn’t mind if you answered Miles’s question with what Canadian rights you think are being impinged. If you’ve got a valid argument we could always try a constitutional challange of, uh, permit issuing – I mean, how can that “damnation at the hand of the Evil Empire” possibly be demonstrably justified in a free and democratic society?
Thanks SBW. I still don’t see which of my charter rights are being violated.
That said, I do agree with some of the things you are complaining about Kay. Especially the NS power issue. It’s just that I don’t see these issues as a violation of rights, just examples of how the average Joe bears the brunt of government and corporate greed.
SBW, there is no need for an annual registration of vehicles. The time when a vehicle should be registered is when the owner changes, ie I buy my vehicle and register it, it shouldn’t need to be regisitered until I sell it, give it away, or junk it.
I believe the American Revolution was caused by too high taxes and yes taxes without representation, but mostly high taxes.
Also, taxes that were going to service people in Britain, not America. Here your high taxes go to service you. They pay for your roads and your healthcare and a plethora of other things. The government isn’t getting rich from your tax dollars, they are spending them on things you use. There may be ways to spend it better and prevent wastage, but in general, you are not exactly pissing your money away when you pay taxes.
I can tell the government’s not getting rich off my tax dollars. Uh huh. One only needs to look at what the losers take home to know you follow the money to discover the motives of our government.
What value and government service are we purchasing when we’re required to have a permit to recoup liquor costs at a private party? (Say for example, a wedding reception with drink tickets being sold.) How did we ever make this a governmental concern complete with bylaws?
Annual car registrations are a waste of administration and just another way to stick it to the consumer with the audacity to drive a car. If it were about safety then every province would allow for only 1 year registration at a time. Instead, we have driver’s license that last for 5 years and we renew only because our appearance has likely changed and the photo ID requires an update. I think if we look at the history of driver registration we’ve still got that principal in place… yes, photo the driver and keep a record of it. But car registration came LONG after that. It’s a money grab, I tell ya!
The rights and freedoms that are being quashed is my right to freedom. Our government keeps stickin’ it’s hand out like my happiness and life itself is the government’s own taxable asset.
Actually, Bro Tim, it was all about taxes without representation. If it was only about high taxes, why wasn’t there a bloody revolution when Dwight Eisenhower had the top tier tax rate at 97%?
Kay— the will of the people is represented by the democratically elected Parliament, not by who gets the most votes. If you wanted a democratic organization like the ancient Greeks had, nothing would be done (not to mention too, only wealthy, educated men voted then…). We all want things like free health care, and roads and everything else that our federal and provincial and municipal governments provide, however, these things cost money. Thus, the government asks the people to pay for some of it. There, that’s politics 101. Honestly, if you have that much of a gripe with paying taxes, then don’t! When you’re arrested or have had your paycheque garnished, claim you’re a political prisoner. See how far that gets you. Taxes do not infringe on your rights. They are the instruments that support your rights. Another right you have is to freely leave the country if you feel that political system is not to your liking. You’ll find most of Europe is much like our system. Unless you want to move to the US, then you deserve what you get.
Wonder what people will say when the government unilaterally increases the tax on gasoline and oil by $1.25/l.
I don’t mind paying taxes as long as they are fair.
Top tax collection issues for me:
1. (as previously mentioned) the legislated monopoly of NSP.
2. charging tax on USED CARS! Can someone explain how it could be right to rake in many times more in taxes on a car that changes hands a few times than one that a single owner holds on to for a long time?
Top tax spending issue for me:
1. putting public money into anything that is not used by or available to the majority (or all) of the population. I wish I could think of examples, but hopefully someone will fill in the blank… ______
INCOME TAX. SALES TAX. I’m sure they teach what that’s for in Politics 101, Fever. You know, I don’t mind paying some taxes since I enjoy clean water, well paved roads, education, health care, a police force, a justice system, emergency response and all those big reasons why we need government. Where in that equation is government asked to trim my waste line, charge me to throw my party or to charge me every year to provide the same information I provided the year previous?
Dogma, fill in your blank with “aids research”. I don’t have it, never will, it’s never touched my family… and the most effective drugs that come of the research are available only to those who can afford it. Doesn’t add up to many in the overall population but your tax dollars are hard at work “solving the problems of the few” rather than for “the many” in this example. But I don’t mind a few of my tax dollars going to this research.