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OT: The News Thread

No on likes paying taxes, but the GST just replaced the hidden MST and shifted the cost to the end consumer. If it is such a millstone, why are the Liberal aways calling on Harper to increase the GST back to where it was.

As much as we dislike paying it it does provide money for the services we al demand from government. ....and yes, I b***h and complain about paying it just as much as anyone, but like most people, I don't like paying any tax.
 
I have no problem with the GST and wish it was still at 7% and i think alberta should have a PST as well.


*ducks to hide from Alberta snipers*
 
The recession in the early 90s was largely due to John Crow, the Bank of Canada and termoil in the US financial system (the S&L scandal). The GST had nothing to do with it.

The GST is a "good tax", it's the least distortionary way for government to raise revenues and was part of a suite of intelligent tax reforms by the Mulroney government (hence my admiration for good old solid Red Tories). Chretien was right to back away from that silly promise and force Copps and Axworthy to fall on their swords.

The Harper government were idiots to reduce the GST. It was a cynical, populist ploy that makes little or no difference in the daily life of Canadians... other than the fact that it creates a 13 billion dollar structural deficit. Going forward, the overall tax burden is likely to creep up due to demographics, hopefully the bulk of that will be through increases in the GST.
 
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wish this wasn't written the way it is. guess you can't expect more from 'badass of the week'. still, a pretty incredible story.

http://badassoftheweek.com/omari.html

Late on the night of January 23, 2012, a 24 year-old Kenyan uber-hero named Anthony Omari awoke to find three gigantic dudes with machetes standing over his bed. He knew right away that they weren't there to sell Girl Scout cookies or ask him for a jumping mid-air high-five.

Omari is the custodian of Faraja Children's Home in Ngong, Kenya – a sanctuary of healing and love that over the past several years has grown from a tin-roofed one-room shack in the slums of Nairobi into a decent-sized facility that has taken in 37 boys and girls who have been abandoned or orphaned from the street. A place of hope and peace for children who have tragically slipped through the cracks of Kenyan society. Omari's mother, known to her charges only as "Momma", runs the Home, and, ever the diligent son, Anthony lives at the facility and helps his mom make sure that the children are provided for with a warm bed, a hot meal, a primary school education, and medical attention when they need it. As the only adult male at the Home, he's by default charged with ensuring the physical security and safety of all 37 kids in his care. You'd be hard-pressed to find a dude less deserving of taking a ****ing machete to the face.

The second Omari snapped awake, he immediately recognized the jokers standing around him – it was the fourth time this month that the Faraja Children's Home had been broken into, and it was at least the second time that these exact *******s had paid the orphans a visit in the middle of the night.

omari.jpg
 
No on likes paying taxes, but the GST just replaced the hidden MST and shifted the cost to the end consumer.

Not at all. The hidden MST was still paid by the consumer, because the retail sales would factor their profit margin on their total costs, which included the hidden MST. There was no shifted cost.
But even worse, was that the MST was as much as 13.5%, which should have meant that those items go down by 6.5%. They didn't, because there was nothing in the legislation that forced the removal of the MST before applying the GST. So those items artificially ended up with 21.5% "tax" when they should have had only 7%.
But regardless, whether the tax is hidden or not, we pay it. The burden will always be ours.
 
Not at all. The hidden MST was still paid by the consumer, because the retail sales would factor their profit margin on their total costs, which included the hidden MST. There was no shifted cost.
But even worse, was that the MST was as much as 13.5%, which should have meant that those items go down by 6.5%. They didn't, because there was nothing in the legislation that forced the removal of the MST before applying the GST.
So those items artificially ended up with 21.5% "tax" when they should have had only 7%.
But regardless, whether the tax is hidden or not, we pay it. The burden will always be ours.

There was no MST to be removed, manufactures no longer payed the tax. The problem was that retailers, rather than immediately lowering the retail price increased their profit by 13,5% for a period of time. However, over time market competition dictates the pre GSTax price,

The burden will always be ours.

The burden was always ours. The difference is that the manufacturer and businesses/retailers no longer shares that burden. In most cases they get to claim credits for the GST they have paid.
 
There was no MST to be removed, manufactures no longer payed the tax. The problem was that retailers, rather than immediately lowering the retail price increased their profit by 13,5% for a period of time. However, over time market competition dictates the pre GSTax price,

The GST was a replacement for the MST, so yes, there indeed was MST to be removed.
And the retailers had nothing to do with the gouging. That came from their suppliers, where the MST was applied in the first place.
 
Where there is smoke....

http://news.nationalpost.com/2012/0...for-the-tories-call-centre-workers-speak-out/

Staff at a Thunder Bay call centre tasked with making scripted calls claiming to be on behalf of the Conservative Party about voting locations during the 2011 federal election knew they were giving out incorrect information, say former employees.

“We would call these (voters) and they would say ‘we went there and that’s not a real place,’” said a woman, who worked for Responsive Marketing Group Inc. as a call operator, and asked not to be named.

“The whole call centre (noticed it was happening).”
 
just to spread the love around though....

http://www.canada.com/news/national/Liberal+staffer+behind+Toews+Twitter+attack/6217188/story.html

OTTAWA — Interim Liberal leader Bob Rae has admitted a Liberal staffer was behind the Vikileaks30 Twitter account that aired details of Public Safety Minister Vic Toews's divorce in retaliation for an online surveillance bill, and that the staffer has resigned.

A subdued Rae, who identified the staffer as Adam Carroll, made the admission in the House of Commons on Monday afternoon before offering Toews an unconditional apology.

"I want to offer to the minister my personal apology to him," Rae said. "Matters of personal and private conduct are not to be the subject of political attack or political rhetoric."
 
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