Death by Taxes

Tim Hudak Starts Barking Up The Right Tree

Mulder

Today the Ontario PC Party finally announced a game changer. They will be eliminating the HST off Hydro Bills.

As we have announced here at OfficiallyScrewed.com before, the debt retirement charge that never gets repaid is subject to HST and we have argued that never paying off the debt (a la Dalton McGuinty) is a way the province will keep collecting tax dollars as the debt retirement is subject to HST.

Well Hudak has come through for Ontarians with this announcement.

An Ontario PC government will provide Ontario families with real, permanent household relief by:
Removing the HST from residential hydro bills. The HST has made life unaffordable for many families. Combine that with expensive energy experiments and hydro bills are soaring.
Removing the HST from residential home heating bills (natural gas and other fuels). We live in Canada where heating our homes isn’t a luxury. Increasing the cost with a tax increase is unfair.
Removing the Debt Retirement Charge from residential hydro bills. We will remove the so-called “Debt Retirement Charge” from your hydro bills. The full amount had been collected as of 2010 – yet the McGuinty government extended it to 2018.
Taken together, these three steps will give a typical Ontario household $275 in immediate relief from rising energy bills.

Thank you Mr. Hudak. We needed something to hit the masses with and this is a the perfect shot in the arm to stimulate interest in putting the PC party in charge of Ontario.

Ontario Energy Board Let’s Us Get Screwed….Twice

Mulder

In what I would describe as double penetration, the Ontario Energy Board has ruled that utility companies can raise their rates to pay for $18 Million in fines that they received for….wait for it….overcharging those who paid bills late.

You got it. First they screwed the taxpayer and then they asked to screw the taxpayer for screwing the tax payer….and the Ontario Energy Board said yes.

“It’s a scam,” Progressive Conservative Leader Tim Hudak shot at Energy Minister Brad Duguid in the Legislature’s daily question period, saying the Liberals have turned the energy board into “another McGuinty tax collection agency.”

“Why is it when Ontario families even win in the courts you still make them pay the price of illegal activity?”

Now THAT is getting OfficiallyScrewed.

America Stimulus A Booming Success – 55 New Jobs in Los Angeles And It Only Cost Americans $111 Million

Mulder

<facetiousness>

In an unprecedented successful stimulus story, the glorious city of angels has created or retained a whopping 55 jobs!

“I’m disappointed that we’ve only created or retained 55 jobs after receiving $111 million,” said Wendy Greuel, the city’s controller.

For you math buffs out there, that’s just a little over $2,000,000 per job created.

So why do I feel that this is a success and not a complete and utter failure?

Because L.A. is full of movie stars and musicians. Even Forbes states that from 2008 to 2009 the top 15 celebrities earned a combined and astronomical $1.6 BILLION, thus averaging almost $107 Million per person. So $2 Million per job  seems like a bargain doesn’t it?  Well doesn’t it??

Now the next time you see a famous star slamming the politics of the right and promoting the politics of the left, pay attention. They make a sick amount of dough compared to you and they know better than you.

<facetiousness off>

Could they not have just paid each of these 55 bozos $100,000 each and saved $105.5 Million?

American Tax Payers … OfficiallyScrewed … again.

Let Them Eat Lokoumades

Mulder

I’m Canadian but I am also a first generation Greek Canadian. My parents immigrated to Canada in the mid 1960’s and the past few months I have been seething about what is going on in Greece. You see I often joke about the woprldwide recession not affecting Greece because Greece has been in a depression for 100 years.

I guess I was wrong. They CAN sink lower.

The name Papandreou is pretty much dirt to me now. It was dirt to my father when it was Andreas Papandreou and now it is just as distasteful when it is George Papandreou. Their socialist parties have built (or better termed) torn down a nation full of people who now would rather suckle the European teat than to pull their bootstraps up and get to work. Three Generations of Papendreou’s have systematically turned Greece into a 3rd world nation.

When more than 50% of citizens pay no taxes a nation will fail.

When the government spends 13% more than it takes in every day a nation will fail.

And now Greeks won’t let their government cut programs to balance the books.

They expect the EU to bail them out.

I say let them eat lokoumades.

When my parents immigrated they brought with them a sense of national pride. They brought with them a sense of values and a work ethic we see in so many that have immigrated to Canada for a better life.

That sense of pride is now gone. Greeks would rather go begging to the EU with hat in hand. For shame.

I know my father wold roll over in his grave if he knew how low his mother country had sunk.

Obama Advisor and Ex Fed Chairman Paul Volcker Says VAT Not "Toxic"

Mulder

President Obama advisor and former federal reserve chairman Paul Volcker starts toying with the national VAT tax. This is similar to our 5% GST and similar to the 20% seen in many European countries.

The U.S. should consider using a European-style value added tax to help bring the deficit down, said White House adviser Paul Volcker in response to a question from CBS MoneyWatch.com at a panel discussion in New York City Tuesday night. “We have to think about really revamping the tax system,” said Volcker, who’s best known for successfully beating down inflation while serving as Ronald Reagan’s Federal Reserve chairman. The VAT, a levy on all the goods and services you consume, is not a “toxic idea,” he added.

Don’t say we didn’t warn you about the potential of getting OfficiallyScrewed.

Nova Scotia Set To Follow Quebec's Lead

Mulder

Next Tuesday April 6th, the NDP government of Nova Scotia is likely to raise their provincial sales tax. The Politic‘s Mark Peters points this out in comments to our post on Quebec Liberals raising sales taxes.

Tie in the expectation of an American consumption tax (i.e. a federal sales tax) and we clearly have the answer from far left of the political spectrum.

Liberal “deep thinkers” in Montreal were just waxing poetic on a carbon tax and thinking “Maybe if we smother it in sausage gravy, they scheme, it will be tasty.”

It’s no wonder we all don’t just throw our hands in the air and jump on board the sausage gravy train.

Quebec LIBERALS Push Provincial Portion Of Sales Tax To A Whopping 9.5%

Mulder

This is what $7/day daycare gets you.

I am a big proponent of making sure each level of government pays for the programs it wants to see and Quebec has quite obviously been a bit left of center compared to the rest of Canada. Seeing them raise the Provincial portion of their harmonized sales tax to pay for the lifestyle they want makes me happy because hopefully it means I won’t have to pay for their lifestyle.

Brian Mulroney took one on the chin (no cheap shot intended) when he brought in the GST, but what I liked about two separate taxes was that they let us see which government was raising or lowering taxes.

So consider this post my way of shouting out to everyone in Quebec. It was a LIBERAL government that raised your taxes.

Meanwhile back in Ottawa, their federal LIBERAL cousins are working hard to keep Conservatives from CUTTING taxes.

Quebec taxpayers getting OfficiallyScrewed at the till by Liberals.