Ontario’s Eco Tax Not Even Managed

A new tax in Canada’s largest province is so poorly mismanaged, that one of the country’s largest retailers has had to issue a public apology for overcharging customers.

Ontario’s eco-fee (provincial politicians call it a “fee” instead of a “tax” because they snuck it through without any debate – public or otherwise) went into effect this past July 1.

The Ontario government claims the new “fee” is supposed to discourage people from purchasing products harmful to the environment, and it is supposed to be applied to the costs associated with recycling and disposing of the harmful products it is applied too.

Learn more about the fee.

However, it appears not only was this new tax – whoops I mean “fee” – brought in without any debate, there was no thought as to how to manage it.

Canadian Tire apologized today, for overcharging customers on a biodegradable shower cleaner sold in its stores. The large Canadian retailer says it will gladly refund the overcharged amount to customers who bring in their receipts.
Canadian Tire blames its computerized Point of Sale system for the error, and says it has since been corrected.

Why is an environmentally-friendly “fee” is being charged on an environmentally-friendly product? Isn’t the whole nature of the eco-fee to be charged on products harmful to the environment, to encourage environmentally-friendly product purchases?

Maybe this mix-up is because the provincial body charged with managing the eco-fee admits they don’t know what they are doing. Stewardship Ontario, admitted it doesn’t have a way to monitor or control how much retailers are charging.

This brought heavy fire from the province’s Environment Minister John Gerretsen, who warned the organization that if it doesn’t implement an auditing system to ensure correct and consistent fees are collected, he’ll end the program.

That’s government talk for – “hey, if you don’t do my job and make me look good, I’ll shut down the program, and you’ll be moved to another government program.”

(No one ever gets fired anymore.)

Seriously, isn’t it the Environment Minister’s job to create the policies and procedures for his own ministry?

Gee Mr. Gerretsen, wouldn’t it have been a better idea to discuss, debate and then decide how to implement this eco-fee BEFORE you put it in place? Don’tcha-think?

But no, you just had to get this tax into place as fast as possible, without any input from anyone other than your own closely guarded circle of – did you talk to anyone about this? Anyone at all?

Naturally, the opposition parties are coming down on the Ontario government over this mess. One politician even saying if elected he’ll kill this new tax right away.

When was the last time you ever heard of a politician canceling a tax completely?

Never?

Me either.

What’s worse, is now our politicians are using our passion for the planet against us. Instead of instituting green initiatives which really are environmentally-friendly, they are instituting policies which just pad their pocketbooks, using the environment as an excuse.

No wonder politicians get a bad rap, and jokes abound about just how far you can trust ‘em.

What will you do next Minister Gerretsen, paint a baby green, toss a sash on it reading “Earth” and then kiss it in front of the cameras for a photo op?

Just remember, if you do that – don’t use the lead-based paint.

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Electricity in Canada’s Biggest City to Skyrocket – Thanks to Road Work

As if the cost to light and power our homes in Toronto, Canada isn’t already set to increase by eight percent thanks to the Ontario government’s introduction of the Harmonized Sales Tax (HST) on July 1, another completely different cost may be tacked onto Torontonian’s hydro bills.

Road repairs – of all things. The City of Toronto is going to introduce a proposed fee at a meeting on March 2, calling for hydro companies to pay for the cost to repair roads and sidewalks which they have to dig up to maintain their power grids.

Cable companies, phone companies, hydro companies and other businesses which run their networks of cables and pipes under city streets have to dig into the roads and sidewalks to maintain their services. Without these constant repairs and upgrades, Canada’s largest city would be without many of the basic technological needs we’ve grown dependent on – like electricity to light our homes, telephone services to communicate vast distances, cable and Internet services to stay informed, and clean running water to sustain life.

The City of Toronto estimates almost 40,000 holes are dug every year by companies whose lifeline of cables and pipes run under city streets.

Out-going Mayor David Miller (he has said publicly he won’t be running for re-election in this year’s municipal election) claims that these cuts prematurely deteriorate our roads, and reduce the life our infrastructure, forcing the city to do costly repairs.

The proposal to be debated next week would recoup these costs, by charging companies digging up city roads about $20 CDN for every meter of road they dig up – recently paved roads would cost these companies slightly more if they were dug up.

Being labeled the “degradation fee” this new fee could bring in an estimated $4 million CDN, which the city claims would be funneled back into road repairs.

Hydro companies, cable companies, Internet Service Providers, telephone companies and others digging up Toronto roadways to maintain their underground networks would all be affected – and in turn pass this added operational cost onto their customers.

This new fee being proposed in Toronto will be directly passed onto consumers, either in the form of increased rates, or network service charges (usually charged to maintain the networks).

So if your phone line goes dead, and the phone company has to dig up the street to restore your service, you could see your monthly phone bill increase because of the costs associated with the repair.

Toronto’s city council for the past several years has squandered and over-spent to the point where property tax increases, public transit fare increases and user fees have become a City of Toronto norm.

When will politicians learn to balance their budgets, and use the funds available to them without digging deeper into the very people’s pockets that elected them into office?

Maybe when they no longer get elected into office. Probably one of a handful of reasons why the current mayor is not running in the next election – throughout his time in the Mayor’s seat he’s raised property taxes, public transit fares, and probably the most stinging to any potential re-election thoughts, inside and outside city employees walked off the job and went on strike this past summer.

Nicknamed the “garbage strike” by the media, because of the mounds of stinky garbage piling up because garbage collectors were among the many walking the picket lines, the city-wide strike this past summer pretty much ended Mayor Miller’s re-election hopes. No Toronto Mayor has ever bounced back to win re-election after a garbage strike. Though the Mayor publicly says he wants to spend more time with his family as the main reason for not running for office again, one has to seriously wonder if he’d even stand a chance.

Too bad around election time, those who vote get caught up in all the media hype and media-made issues, which rarely if ever fully hold public figures accountable for their past performance.

And it is little sneaky hidden fees – such as the proposed degradation fee – which fall off the radar during election campaigns, only to raise their ugly heads when it is too late, and the fee is law, and people suddenly complain about their hydro, phone and cable bills becoming unmanageable.

But by then, the election has long since passed, and all the politicians that put forward that little sneaky hidden fee are back in their comfy seats on council, contemplating their next little sneaky fee, while browsing through high-end catalogs to refurnish their council offices.

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Happy Birthday Canada – Here’s Yet Another Tax Increase

Canada’s largest provincial government stuck their tax grabbing hands deeper into their residents pockets, and as of July 1, 2010, almost everything in Ontario will be eight percent more expensive.

When the Ontario government merges their provincial sales tax into the Harmonized Sales Tax (HST) – which is a combination of the five percent Goods and Services Tax (GST) and the eight percent Ontario Provincial Sales Tax (PST) many items currently only subjected to the GST will suddenly be taxed provincially as well. All of this takes place when the new combined HST takes effect, on Canada’s birthday -- Canada Day -- July 1.

The Ontario government claims this combining of the two taxes will result of in a cost savings for both the federal and provincial governments in terms of administering the taxation system. And if you check out the provincial government’s website, they are trying to sell this tax increase as a tax decrease for Ontarians – just how dumb do they take us for?

However easier it may or may not be for the government to administer, this is clearly a tax grab for the Ontario government, as the harmonization of the two taxes really adds up when you consider all the things we consume which previously weren’t taxed by the province – but will be once the new HST takes effect.

Some of these higher prices will affect all of us all indirectly. Gas prices will skyrocket by the additional provincial portion of the HST by eight percent on July 1 – which directly affects everyone who drives in Ontario.

Almost everything you pick up off a store shelf comes to that store by truck. An additional eight percent price jump may occur, to offset the additional fuel costs spent to bring those goods to market. This is in ADDITION to any other taxes, because they are the result of an additional tax being levied on fuel, which will directly result in an increase in the cost of getting goods to market.

And you think the trucking companies are going to pay for that? Think again. They will charge more to transport – say groceries such as apples and oranges to your local grocery store. The grocery store in turn, will have to charge more to recoup their costs, so the price of apples and oranges will increase. Even though the cost of apples and oranges themselves did not directly increase by the HST – basic groceries are exempt from the provincial portion of the HST in Ontario.

Dalton McGuinty, Ontario’s Premier says the HST will affect a mere 17 percent of consumer purchases. However, McGuinty is only looking at what the HST is directly affecting – he’s failed to include all the indirect costs associated with his tax grab, such as the cost to get apples and oranges to market.

Previously not taxed provincially, the following items will jump by eight percent automatically when the HST takes affect:

• Electricity
• Gasoline
• Heating Fuels
• Internet Access Fees
• Personal Services (e.g., Hairstyling)
• Professional Services (e.g., Legal, Accounting and Real Estate Fees and Commissions)
• Tobacco

Many of these combine to give you a double-whammy effect – computers use electricity to run so that we can check our email and surf the Internet. Electricity and Internet access fees are both increasing by eight percent each under the HST. Suddenly, your lone computer sitting in the corner costs you an additional 16 percent in taxes just to operate!

A ten dollar haircut will jump to a thirteen percent HST – meaning you’ll now pay $11.30 for that ten dollar trim.

The Ontario Ministry of Finance estimates the typical Ontario home owner will pay an additional $100 per year for electricity and about $125 per year for natural gas heating.

Businesses need electricity and heat as well, and as their operating costs increase thanks to increased electricity and heating fuel costs, they will naturally pass these operating costs onto us consumers, so even products exempt from the provincial portion of the HST will in the end, cost more.

All of these costs come just as the world is starting to come out of the worst economic depression since the Great Depression of the ‘Dirty Thirties,’ so as many of us are still reeling financially, the Ontario government socks us with a hefty right-hook, punching us with another new tax.

Wonderful. Maybe just as we’re getting up from the mat, the McGuinty government will pour some salt in our wounds to remind us of their fiscal sting with new user fees implemented for services which were previously already paid for by our taxes. Oh, they are going to do that too this year?

Welcome to Ontario – yours to discover – as the local license plates say.

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